After senior Josh Morelock (Poplar Grove, Ill.) scored to give Suffolk a 26-24 lead, Babson closed the first half with a 12-2 run to take a 36-28 advantage into the locker room. Junior Brandon Eigenberg (Milford, Conn.) scored five straight points during the run, while first-year Norm de Silva (Dartmouth, Mass.) added one of his four three-pointers.
First-year Pat Belniak (Sutton, Mass.) hit a jumper to push the Beavers’ lead to 10 in the opening minute of the second half, but Suffolk quickly closed the gap with a 9-2 run that featured four points from Morelock and five more from first-year Brian Small (Stoughton, Mass.). The two teams would battle back and forth from there, with each squad taking and then surrendering the lead. Babson went up by as many as seven, 57-50, on back-to-back lay-ups by Belniak with 6:36 left, but the Rams answered with seven straight points over the next two minutes to knot the contest at 57-57.
Suffolk hit eight straight free throws in the final three minutes, as the Rams seemingly had the game in hand with a 68-62 advantage with just 37 seconds remaining. However, Babson first-year Zach Etten (Hollis, N.H.) drew a foul and hit both freebies to pull the Beavers back to within four, and, after Morehead hit one of two, de Silva drained a long jumper from the right side to cut Babson’s deficit to just three, 69-66, with 16.4 seconds left in regulation.
Following a time-out, Eigenberg made the game’s biggest defensive play when he knocked an attempted inbounds pass to Etten to give the Beavers the ball with 15 seconds on the clock. After another time-out with 5.6 seconds remaining, Eigenberg misfired on a long three from the left side, but the rebound went to de Silva deep in the right corner. The rookie point guard then pump-faked a defender and drained a fade-away trifecta as the buzzer sounded, tying the score at 69-69 and sending the game into overtime.
Babson took its final lead of the game on a Belniak lay-up in the first 40 seconds of the extra session, but Suffolk would take over from there. Morehead tied the contest with two free throws, and Murphy put the Rams in front for good with a tough runner in the lane. Suffolk would later go up by as many as six, 78-72, on a breakaway lay-up by Small with 37.8 seconds remaining, and junior Brad Schoonmaker (Southington, Conn.) and Murphy each hit one of two in the closing seconds to seal the 80-76 victory.
Murphy was outstanding for Suffolk, recording 21 points, five rebounds, five assists, and five steals while playing all 45 minutes. Morelock finished with 18 points and five boards, while Small added 17 points while also playing the entire contest. Babson was led by Belniak, who scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and de Silva, who also netted a career-best with 17 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Eigenberg also turned in a stellar performance for the Beavers, scoring nine points, dishing out four assists, and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.