Men's Basketball Comes From Behind To Defeat Babson, 66-63
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., – January 17, 2006 – A lay-up by Derek Yvon with 42 seconds remaining broke a 63-all tie, giving Springfield College its first lead, and the Springfield men’s basketball team went on to defeat Babson College, 66-63, tonight in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference game at SC’s Blake Arena.
With the win, Springfield raises its record to 5-11 overall, 1-3 in the NEWMAC. The win snapped a 3-game losing streak. Babson, meanwhile, falls to 5-10 overall, 0-4 in the conference. The Beavers have now lost 7 straight.
Yvon, the conference’s leading scorer, wound up tallying 29 points. He had 13 at the half. A 6-3 senior guard from East Longmeadow, Mass. and Cathedral High, Derek now has scored 364 points this season and 1,868 for his career. He now needs 136 more to become SC’s all-time leading scorer, who currently is Hassan Robinson (’95) with 2,003.
Two others scored in double figures for the Pride. They were 6-3 junior forward Damian Farley (Natick, Mass./Natick HS) and 5-10 sophomore guard Jamaal Gibbs (Norwak, Conn./Brien McMahon HS), each with 11 points.
For Babson, three scored in double figures. They were 6-1 sophomore guard David Votta (Roswell, Ga./Pace Academy) (5-for-7 from the field) and 6-1 guard Brandon Eigenberg (Milford, Conn./Franklin HS) with 12 each, and 6-5 freshman forward Pat Belniak (Sutton, Mass./Sutton HS) with 11. Votta also added 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
In terms of tough losses, this one would rank right up there for Babson. Conversely, this was a gratifying never-say-die win for Springfield. Both teams were 0-3 in conference play entering the contest.
Babson started out like the proverbial house-on-fire, taking a quick 10-0 lead after the first 4:37. The Beavers made 6 of their first 8 shots and took a 14-2 lead after a lay-up by 6-4 sophomore forward Greg Bush (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip HS).
Babson’s largest lead of the game was 13 at 33-20 when Votta made a 3-pointer with 3:35 left. But just as it did to end the game, SC made a very good run to end the first half (11-2). An Yvon 3-pointer with 31 seconds left cut the deficit to 4 at the intermission, 35-31. At this juncture, Babson was shooting .591 from the field (13-of-22), while SC was shooting just .379 (11-of-29).
Votta scored all 12 of his points in that half for Babson.
When Bush made a jumper with 16:33 to go, Babson had its largest 2nd half lead at 43-33. Springfield, however, scored the next 9 points, and cut it to 43-42 on a Gibbs lay-up with 12:16 left. But Babson then scored the next 7 points, culminated by an Eigenberg 3-pointer with 10:45 left to give the Beavers an 8-point bulge. From here-on, the game became a real grinder.
With 2:50 left, Babson still led by 6 (62-56) following a lay-up by 6-2 sophomore forward Chris Bradley (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon HS). But this is where Springfield played its best basketball of the night, outscoring Babson 10-1 the rest of the way.
It began with 2:33 left as Yvon made two free throws. With 2:02 left, 6-2 sophomore Kyle McDonald (Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield HS) hit one answering free throw for Babson’s final point, making it 63-58, Babson.
With 1:47 left, Yvon made a 3-point play the old-fashioned way (63-61), with Gibbs getting the assist. Following a Babson turnover with 1:39 left, Springfield had possession for the first time all night when it was only 2 points down. SC took advantage as Farley made a nice lay-up to tie matters at 63-all, Gibbs assisting, with 1:21 left.
Bradley missed a short jumper with 54 seconds left for the Beavers.
Yvon then made a lay-up, again the assist going to Gibbs, with 42 seconds left, giving SC its first lead of the night. From the 17-second mark to the 6-econd mark, Babson had three attempts to tie it, but missed on each occasion. Yvon made 1 free throw with 6 seconds left, but the action wasn’t quite over. With 3 seconds left, 6-4 freshman guard Zach Etten (Hollis, N.H./Hollis-Brookline HS) had a straight-on attempt to tie it with a three-pointer. It rimmed out with Votta getting the long rebound. Votta’s long three also rimmed out, although it would not have counted if it had gone.
Springfield next plays at Clark Saturday (Jan. 21) at 2 pm. Babson will play at Lasell Thursday (Jan. 19) at 7 pm.
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Head Coach Charlie Brock
Charlie Brock in 2009-10 will enter his 12th season as the head coach at Springfield College. Brock’s achievements as a coach are certainly impressive, as he has taken three schools to the NCAA Division III Tournament and has an overall, 29-year record of 394-363 for a winning percentage of .520. Read more.