Game One: No. 6 Coast Guard 80 , No. 3 Babson  69 – Final | Box Score

WELLESLEY, Mass. – No. 6 Coast Guard defeated No. 3 Babson College 80-69 in the first round of the NEWMAC Men's Basketball Championship. The win also avenges the 76-87 NEWMAC Quarterfinal loss the Bears suffered at the hands of Babson last season.

The game started slow for both squads with neither team scoring a point in the first two minutes and combining for five turnovers. Babson finally broke the scoreless streak, scoring the first four points in the affair before Luke Farrell sunk both of his free throws for the Bears first points of the night. Colin Huang buried two free throws of his own the next possession to tie the score at 4-4 before Elijah Parent gave the Bears their first lead of the day just prior to the first media timeout. The teams would continue to trade baskets into the next media, with Coast Guard leading 14-13 with 11:21 to go in the half.

Early in the first half, the Bears spark came from sharpshooter Trevor Parks who came off the bench and went three for his first three from beyond the arc. His first three tied the score at 11-11 while his next two came to give some semblance of breathing room just after the Beavers cut the CGA lead to one possession. Parks would finish the half 4-5 from three.

CGA wound up leading 39-37 going into halftime. In the first, every time the Beavers landed a punch, the Bears seemed to have an answer immediately, including in the final minute when Babson's Nate Amado brought the crowd alive with a dunk and Luke Farrell answered on the other end with a key offensive rebound before being fouled and making a free throw to bring the CGA lead to two. Farrell then got a defensive rebound at the buzzer to prohibit a potential game tying put back for Babson.

At the start of the second half, Babson tied the score at 39-39 almost immediately but Coast Guard snatched the lead right back with two Colin Huang made free throws. On the next possession, Huang would again play a key role with an assist to a Ben Yagey three pointer. Huang would assist on the Bears next three as well, this time from Declan Rooney to extend the lead to 49-42. Five minutes into the second half, the Bears were an outstanding 58.3%(7-12) from three. Going into the first media timeout of the second, Luke Farrell made a contested layup to put the Bears up 55-48, out of the timeout he would convert the three point play to make the score 56-48 with just under 14 remaining. 

Around the 12 minute mark, Babson gained all of the momentum. CGA missed four shots in a row and Ryan Frauenheim scored six unanswered points and drew an offensive foul to cut the Babson deficit to just two. The freshman Frauenheim has four career double digit scoring games, three of which have come against Coast Guard including a career high 17 tonight. The Beavers would take their first lead since early in the first half at the 9:45 mark. Coast Guard, however, was able to stop the bleeding and avoid a Beaver runaway with scores on back to back to back possessions. 

With five minutes remaining in the intense NEWMAC first round battle, Coast Guard led 68-63. After four consecutive possessions resulting in turnovers for the Bears and a flagrant foul, Babson took advantage and cut the CGA lead to just one. Leading 68-67 with two minutes remaining, Cameron Brown took the Babson crowd jeers in stride and knocked down two clutch free throws to bring the score to 70-67. On the other end, Nate Amado hit two of his own, leaving Coast Guard with a one point lead under 1:45 remaining. On the fourth consecutive possession between the teams resulting in two free throws, Luke Farrell this time buried his two to give the Bears a 72-69 lead and the ball after a Babson flagrant foul call. They would extend that lead to five at the 1:13 mark with a clutch, crowd quieting made two by Elijah Parent at the end of the shot clock. After getting a rebound and getting fouled hard on the other end, Colin Huang made one of his free throws to extend the lead to six. 

The Bears would seal the game, making five of their last six free throws to ultimately win by a score of 80 to 69.

Coast Guard will move onto the NEWMAC Tournament semifinals at No. 2 Clark University on Thursday February 27th at 7:00 PM.

Game Two: No. 5 Springfield 50, No. 4 Emerson 67 | Final | Box Score

Boston, Mass. – No. 4 Emerson College topped No. 5 Springfield College, 67-50, in a first round match-up of the 2025 NEWMAC Championship Tournament on Tuesday evening in Brown & Plofker Gymnasium.

Emerson improved to 13-13 and will travel to top-seeded WPI for the semifinal round on Thursday at 7:00 pm, while Springfield sees its season come to a close at 10-16. This was the first postseason meeting between Springfield and Emerson since 2019 and the Lions are now 3-0 all-time against the Pride in the NEWMAC Tournament with previous meetings coming in the semifinals in 2019 and the quarterfinals in 2016.

Springfield shot just 2-for-11 over the first six plus minutes of the game on layups from Curtiss Blische and Jarron Flynn and at the first media timeout, Emerson held a 9-4 edge, helped by a three pointer from Jacob Armant. A 9-0 run by the Pride that stretch just over three minutes out of the break gave Springfield its first lead of the game. A trey by Zander Robinson off a feed from Paulino with 11:20 left in the stanza secured an 11-9 lead for the Pride before a pull up jumper from Samuels made it a 13-9 advantage less than a minute later.

Emerson answered with 13 straight points – 12 of which came from behind the arc. The run was capped on a four-point play from Guillermo Gasset Ruiz as he drained a corner three before knocking down the free throw as that gave the hosts a nine point lead at 22-13 with 7:29 remaining. A jumper by Xoren Livingston cut Emerson's run before Springfield went on to outscore the hosts 10-5 over the final 7:12 of the half as the score stood at 27-23 at the break. A pair of layups from Flynn as well as driving buckets by Hartley and Paulino highlighted the half-ending spurt for the Pride.

In the opening half both teams converted just ten times from the floor with neither side shooting above 40.0-percent. The difference came from behind the arc as Emerson hit 6-of-10 shots from long range, including three from Lucas Brenner, compared to a 1-for-5 effort from Springfield, but the visiting Pride held the hosts scoreless over the final 3:20 of the half.

Emerson outscored Springfield 14-5 over the opening five plus minutes of the second before a trey from Robinson cut the drought for the Pride, but Springfield still trailed by double figures with 13:27 to play. Emerson's 15-5 run that stretched over five minutes gave the hosts a 49-34 lead and saw Brenner score a third of Emerson's points during the run.

Emerson took a 20 point lead, 56-36, at the under eight media timeout and clinched the postseason win by a 67-50 final as the Lions advanced to the NEWMAC Semifinals for the second consecutive season.

Three student-athletes from Emerson tallied double-digit points led by a 17 point effort from Lucas Brenner as he went 6-for-9 from the floor including 5-for-7 from behind the arc. Linus Holmhold pulled down a game-high seven boards for the hosts.

Jarron Flynn guided Springfield's offense with nine points, while John Paulino had four points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Josh Hartley pulled down a team-best five boards in the effort.

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.