VIDEO: Highlights from Wheaton/Babson

BABSON PARK, Mass. - Junior Cliften Desravines (Somerville, Mass./Taft School) scored 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots in Wheaton College's 62-58 loss to Babson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Quarterfinal action Wednesday afternoon at Staake Gymnasium.

Sophomore Will Bayliss (Manchester, N.H./Tilton Academy) added nine points, five rebounds and three assists for the Lyons, who finished their season 11-14. Senior Brendan Degnan (Narragansett, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) added 13 points, six rebounds and three assists to finish his career with 988 points. Classmate Anthony Weeks (Fitchburg, Mass./Worcester Academy) went for 12 points and six boards.

Babson junior Alex Rudolph (Bal Harbour, Fla./Miami Country Day) led all scorers with 19 points and six rebounds while freshman John Wickey (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Central) added 10 points and five rebounds.

Both teams shot below 40 percent from the field in a defensive struggle. Babson shot 37 percent from the floor but sank seven of its 15 three-point attempts (46 percent) compared to 33 percent for the Lyons. Each team snared 39 rebounds but the Beavers held a 16-10 edge in turnovers and held the lead from start to finish.

Babson jumped out to an early 8-0 lead four minutes into the contest. The Lyons cut their deficit in half (12-8) behind a pair of free throws from Desravines and seniors Bruno Naylor (Santa Monica, Calif./Northfield Mount Hermon School) and Degnan.  Two minutes later, Bayliss drilled a three with the shot clock winding down to bring Wheaton to within two (15-13) at the midway point. The Beavers responded by scoring 15 of the next 19 points to go ahead 30-17 with two minutes remaining in the half. Wickey sparked the run with seven points while Rudolph poured in six.

Wheaton closed the half on a 7-0 behind a three-point play by Naylor and trailed by six (30-24) at the half. Babson knocked down 40 percent of its shots in the opening frame while the Lyons hit on 33 percent of their attempts. Desravines paced the Lyons with eight points while Wickey and Rudolph each had seven for the Beavers.

Desravines scored four of the Lyons first six points in the second half to help cut Babson's lead to five at 37-32. Weeks then knocked down a long two to make it a four-point game (39-35) with 14 minutes to go.

Babson opened up a 10-point lead at 48-38 with nine minutes remaining behind seven-straight from sophomore Connor Boyen (Woodbury, Conn./Nonnewaug). The Lyons cut the deficit to five (55-49) on a triple by Weeks and a pair of free throws from Degnan with less than 120 seconds remaining.

Following a stop on defense, Weeks was fouled and sank both free throws to bring the Lyons to within three at 56-53. Junior Marcus McDermott (Milton, Mass.) answered for Babson with that proved to be the knockout blow, a three from the left side with 1:26 to go.  

"I thought our effort was tremendous and I'm really proud of our guys," said Lyons head coach Brian Walmsley. "Babson is a tremendous defensive team and we knew it would be a struggle to score against them. They're a solid team all the way around. Our defense helped us stay close and Cliff gave us a big lift off the bench."

The Beavers (14-12) advance to face No. 1 seed MIT Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Cambridge.