Game One- No. 6 Emerson at No. 2 Clark 

No. 2 Clark men's basketball (20-6) welcomed No. 6 Emerson (11-16) to the Kneller in a NEWMAC Quarterfinal clash in front of a packed Kneller Gymnasium and used a strong second half to propel them to the NEWMAC Championship with a 78-70 come-from-behind victory over the Lions on Thursday night.

The scarlet and white will host the NEWMAC Championship on Saturday afternoon when they host No. 4 Babson beginning at 1:00 p.m. This is the Cougars first appearance in the NEWMAC Championship since the 2009-10 season when they beat WPI 74-68.

"Our guys really played hard for 40 minutes, and they responded well in the second half to a good, well-coached Emerson team,". "I thought they punished us for the mistakes we made, but our guys kept battling and fed off the energy in the Kneller. And that was the difference in the second half, we were aggressive in everything we did and the ball finds energy," said Clark Head Coach Tyler Simms. 

Clark jumped out to an early 6-0 lead sparked by four points from junior Bruce Saintilus as well as a made jumper from sophomore Reid Neumann before a made layup from Saintilus extended the Cougar advantage to 8-4 with 15:04 to play in the first half.

Senior Jordan Richard hit a triple off a pass from first-year Quentin Pridgen and a senior Mikey O'Brien layup gave the Cougars a 13-7 edge and a triple from junior Isaiah Taylor extended the advantage to 16-12 lead with 12:56 to play in the half.

The Lions responded with an 8-2 run as Jacob Armant netted all eight Lion points before a made layup from Saintilus tied the game at 20-20 less than halfway through the half.

Armant, Trevor Arico, and Cadan Zurek combined to score the next seven points in the game, but Clark answered with four straight points to cut the deficit to three at 27-24 with 4:16 to go before the break.

Armant hit two more three-pointers and a pair of Arico free throws gave the Lions a nine-point edge at 35-26 before the Cougars ended the half on a 9-2 run sparked by five points from Saintilus as Emerson took a 37-35 lead into the locker room.

Brandan McNamara hot a three-pointer on the first possession of the second half to extend the lead to five before Saintilus scored the games next five points to tie the game at 40-40.

The Cougars then went on an 8-2 run as McArdle netted six points and a jumper from Richard gave the scarlet and white a 50-45 lead with 14:51 to play.

After Arico hit a three-pointer to get back within four before junior Ian Calabrese connected on a triple off a pass from Richard to give the Cougars a 57-50 lead with 11:19 remaining.

The Lions then went on an 8-4 run led by three points from Arico and Shay Roban before O'Brien and first-year Quentin Pridgen combined for the next four points as Clark held a 65-58 advantage with 8:01 left.

Neumann then connected on a triple and a Saintilus layup helped the Cougars take 70-62 lead with 6:00 to play before Asher Gardiner hit a free throw to get the Lions within seven at 70-63.

Taylor pushed the lead to nine at 72-63 with 4:58 to play before both defenses controlled the game as neither team scored over the next three minutes with Arico ending the drought with a made layup to make it a 72-65 contest with 1:33 remaining.
Taylor pushed the lead back up to nine with 1:06 to play with a jumper that hit every part of the rim and fell to go up 74-65 and after the Lions got as close as seven points, Saintilus, Pridgen, and Richard sealed the game with four free throws as Clark came away with a 78-70 win.

The Cougars will play in the NEWMAC Championship on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Babson to the Kneller beginning at 1:00 p.m.

Game Two- No. 4 Babson at No. 1 WPI 

Graduate student Steph Baxter poured in a game-high 36 points to lift fourth-seeded Babson College to a 73-57 win over top-seeded WPI in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal on Thursday night inside Harrington Auditorium. 
 
Babson, which has won six of its last eight games, improves to 14-13 overall, and is headed back to the NEWMAC Tournament final for the second consecutive season. WPI, which was fourth in Tuesday’s NCAA Region II rankings, slips to 21-5 and must wait until Monday to see if it receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Baxter finished 13-of-25 shooting and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Beavers. Junior Nate Amado scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, sophomore Timmy O’Toole totaled 11 points and two blocks and junior David Cross  chipped in with 10 points in the win.
 
Senior John Adams posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while junior Aidan Callahan and sophomore JR Newman both added 10 points to pace the Engineers.
 
The opening 10 minutes featured four ties and five lead changes with neither team leading by more than three. The Green and White got a three-point play from Cross and a hoop in the paint by Amado to go up 23-19 at the 8:48 before WPI responded with a 9-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the stanza at 28-23 three minutes later.
 
The Beavers responded by outscoring the hosts 11-4 over the final 5:10 of the half getting five points from Baxter and a late triple from O’Toole to take a 34-32 edge into the locker room. The Engineers started the second half with an 8-3 burst to go back up 40-39 on a layup by Callahan only to see Babson respond with 13-2 run over the next four minutes. Cross drilled a three-pointer from the left corner, Baxter contributed five points and O’Toole knocked down his third triple to give the Green and White a 52-42 advantage with 10:26 remaining. 
 
The lead was still 10 just over three minutes later before Baxter followed up a pair of free throws by Cross with a deep three-pointer from the top of the key to give Babson a 63-47 advantage with 5:05 to play. WPI got as close as 13 with just over three minutes to play but Baxter canned his fourth three-pointer of the night and the Green and White went 5-of-6 over the last 2:08.
 
The Beavers shot 46.3 percent from the floor and finished with a 39-31 edge on the glass. The Engineers shot just 27.6 percent in the second and 41.1 percent for the game and outscored the Green and White 34-26 in the paint.
 
Babson will travel to second-seeded Clark for Saturday’s NEWMAC Tournament final at 1 p.m.
 
About the NEWMAC

The NEWMAC is an association of 12 selective academic institutions: Babson College, Clark University, U.S Coast Guard Academy, Emerson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College, Salve Regina University, Smith College, Springfield College, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, that are committed to providing high quality competitive athletic opportunities for student-athletes within an educational and respectful environment that embodies the NCAA Division III Philosophy. The conference also partners with four Associate Members: Norwich University (Football), Simmons College (Rowing), SUNY Maritime College (Football), and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Football), while sponsoring 20 sports.