The Pride (21-5), which is the second seed, takes on the winner of No. 6 MIT-No. 3 Wheaton in the semifinals on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. The semifinal and final round will be held at No. 1-seed WPI.
Junior forward Mike DeCesar (Acton, Mass.) had 15 points and 11 rebounds, second only to Yvon’s game-high 17 points. DeCesar iced the victory with a pair of free throws with :02 to play. Sophomore guard Damian Farley (Natick, Mass.) provided a huge spark off the bench, scoring 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
Babson (8-18) received strong performances from senior guards C.J. Enere (Hyde Park, Mass.) and Phil Riffe (Newton, Mass.). Enere had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, and hit 7-of-12 field goal attempts. Riffe drilled five three-pointers and had 15 points.
In the first half, the Beavers led most of the way, shooting 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the floor and hitting 5-of-7 three-point attempts (71.4 percent). Freshman guard David Votta (Roswell, Ga.) scored a team-high nine points. Farley kept SC close scoring 10 points in the half, and Yvon capped an 8-2 SC run over the final 1:11 with a 25-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Pride a 39-36 lead at intermission.
SC led by as many as eight (46-38) early in the second half but could not put the Beavers away. Clinging to a 54-52 lead with 8:24 left, the Pride used a 13-3 run, capped by senior guard Jason O’Tash’s (Alfred Maine) three-pointer, to take its biggest lead, 67-55, with 5:28 left. Riffe’s three-pointer at 5:10 ignited a 13-0 Babson run that gave the Beavers a 68-67 edge with :23 remaining. Senior forward Brooks Brown (Cleveland, Ohio) nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to give Babson the one-point advantage. On SC’s next possession, Yvon was fouled and he calmly hit both free throws. Enere missed a potential game-winning jumper with :03 left, and DeCesar got the rebound and was fouled. He also hit both free throws.