MIT slams brakes on Babson streak
Bradley Jomard finished with 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals to help the second-seeded MIT men’s basketball team edge topranked Babson, 67-62, in the NEWMAC tournament championship game yesterday in Wellesley. With the victory, MIT (21-5) avenged a pair of regularseason losses to Babson and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division 3 tournament.
Babson (25-2), which was ranked No. 1 in the D3hoops.com poll since Dec. 19, had its 16-game win streak snapped.
The Beavers also had their 25-game NEWMAC and 21-game home winning streaks come to end. Ironically, both streaks started following a regularseason loss to the Engineers on Jan. 20, 2016. Babson also had won 25 straight since losing its season opener.
Tim Butala scored 14 points for MIT and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Joey Flannery of Acton led all scorers with 25 points for Babson.
The NCAA Div. 3 tournament pairings will be announced today.
UMass 84, La Salle 71 — In Amherst, Zach Lewis scored a career-high 37 points, including six 3-pointers, and the Minutemen (14-15, 4-12 Atlantic 10) pulled away from the Explorers (14-13, 8-8) for a win that snapped a threegame losing streak.
Lewis, whose points were the most in the A-10 this season, hit nine of his 16 field goal attempts overall and was a perfect 13-for-13 at the free throw line. Dejon Jarreau added 20 points and four 3-pointers for UMass.
Fairfield 62, Niagara 58 — Jonathan Kasibabu scored 16 points and added nine rebounds as the Stags (16-13, 11-9 MAAC) beat the Purple Eagles (9-22, 6-14) in Lewiston, N.Y. In Top 25 games: Louisville 88, Syracuse 68 — Donovan Mitchell made six 3-pointers for 25 points as the No. 7 Cardinals (23-6, 11-5 ACC) pulled away to victory over the Orange (17-13, 9-8) in Louisville, Ky.
C. Florida 53, Cincinnati 49 — B.J. Taylor scored 27 points and 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall had four blocks to help the Knights (19-10, 10-7 AAC) upset the No. 15 Bearcats (25-4, 14-2) in Orlando, Fla.
Michigan State 84, Wisconsin 74 — Nick Ward had 22 points as the Spartans (18-11, 10-6 Big Ten) upended the No. 16 Badgers (22-7, 11-5) in East Lansing, Mich.
Notre Dame 64, Georgia Tech 60 — Bonzie Colson led the way with 20 points and the No. 21 Irish beat the Yellow Jackets in South Bend, Ind.
Butler 88, Xavier 79 — Kelan Martin scored 25 points and the No. 22 Bulldogs (23-6, 12-5 Big East) topped the Musketeers (18-11, 8-8) in Cincinnati.
Women’s basketball
Virginia Tech 82, Boston College 79 — Kelly Hughes had 20 points and Taylor Ortlepp added 19 as the Eagles (9-20, 2-14 ACC) rallied but could not derail the Hokies (17-12, 4-12) at Conte Forum.
UNCW 68, Northeastern 63 — Claudia Ortiz had 29 points and Francesca Sally added 22 for the Huskies (11-18, 7-10 Colonial) but the Seahawks (10-18, 5-12) held on for the win in Wilmington, N.C.
Women’s hockey
Boston University 3, New Hampshire 2 — Rebecca Leslie scored twice, including the winner with 6:47 left, to lift the Terriers (19-11-6) to a win in the decisive Game 3 against the Wildcats (14-192) in a Hockey East quarterfinal series at Walter Brown Arena. BU advanced to the semifinals against Northeastern.