BABSON PARK, Mass. – The fourth-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team's quest for its first conference title came to an end in an 81-56 loss to number two seed and host Babson College this afternoon in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship Game at Staake Gym in Babson Park, Mass.

The Lyons finish their season with a 17-11 record, while the Beavers improve to 20-6 and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.

For Wheaton, it was the first appearance in the NEWMAC title game since February 26, 2005, while Babson earned its third league crown in the past four years with wins in 2023 and 2024.

The Lyons shot just 33.9% (19-56) from the floor and could just not get shots to fall in the second half, converting 27.6% (8-29) of their tries, including 1-13 (7.7%) from three-point range. Conversely, the Beavers shot 53.3% (16-30) in the second session as part of a 48.3% (29-60) mark for the game. Babson controlled the glass with a 45-27 rebounding margin, leading to a 19-4 advantage in second chance points with 15 offensive caroms. Both teams combined for just 14 turnovers in the game, including a season-low of six for Wheaton. 

Senior guard Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) finished his career in dramatic fashion, scoring 19 points to end his time in Norton with exactly 1000 career points to become the 19th player in school annals to achieve the milestone. He joins classmate Eoin Morrissey (Watertown, Mass.) who scored his 1000th on Friday night in the NEWMAC semifinals at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and junior Dimetri Iafrate (Johnston, R.I.), who notched his 1000th point on February 11 at Clark University (Mass.) as the only three teammates in program history to reach the milestone in the same season, let alone within the same 19-day span. Herry did most of his damage at the line today, converting all eight tries and closed out his career sinking 21 consecutive free throws. He added three assists, two rebounds and a steal. Morrissey finished with eight points to give him 1,008 for his career and added five rebounds, two blocks and a steal. The pair were a staple in the Lyons line-up over the past four years and combined to start all but two games that each of them appeared in combined over the last three years. Morrissey finishes ninth all-time at Wheaton with 104 games played, including 101 starts, while ranking second with 769 rebounds. Herry's hot free throw streak put him over 80% for his career today and stands third for lifetime Lyons at .802 (259-323) in addition to standing 10th with 137 three-point field goals made and 12th with 210 assists. Iafrate netted 13 points for the game to go with eight rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. He enjoyed a season for the ages at Wheaton with 545 points for the third-most in a season, while coming up with the second-most steals (81) and dishing out the fifth-highest number of assists (127). His 55.2% (195-353) field goal mark is the eighth-best in school annals.

First year guard Thomas Ferdinando (Andover, Mass.) was outstanding for the Beavers, scoring a game-high 27 points on 9-16 from the floor in addition to four rebounds and an assist, while sophomore guard Timmy Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) netted 18 to go with a steal. Senior guard Timmy O'Toole (Milton, Mass.) posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards to go with four assists, a block and a steal. 

Babson shook off the Lyons' late first-half run and put together a 26-6 stretch over the first 11 and a half minutes of the second half that Wheaton would not be able to come back from. The Beavers shot 55.6% (10-18), while holding the Lyons to just 3-16 (18.7%) from the floor, including 0-7 from three-point range, during the stretch. Ferdinando netted 11 points to fuel the run that gave the home team a commanding 62-39 cushion with 8:25 remaining in the game. Mulvey sank a pair of free throws to give Babson its largest lead of the afternoon at 67-41 with 5:58 showing on the second half clock. Wheaton enjoyed one last charge with 10 unanswered points, paced by five points from Morrissey to pull the Lyons to within 67-51 with 3:57 left in the game, but it was as close as they would get for the remainder of the contest. The Beavers finished the game with a 14-5 blitz, including five from Mulvey.

Iafrate knocked down a three-pointer at the 16:47 mark of the opening half to give Wheaton an early 7-6 edge, before Babson tallied the next five points, including a Ferdinando three-pointer to give the home team an 11-7 margin with 15:54 showing in the half. The Lyons countered with six unanswered points, led by four points from Herry to give them a 13-11 margin at 12:50. It was the visitors' last lead of the afternoon. The Beavers put together an 11-4 stretch capped by a triple from sophomore guard Logan Murphy (Sandwich, Mass.) to take a 22-17 advantage with 7:51 to go in the opening stanza. 

Herry buried a trifecta for Wheaton to pull it to within a basket at 22-20, but Babson looked to pull away early with a suffocating 12-0 blitz capped by a layup from Ferdinando to give the home team its largest lead of the period at 34-20 with 4:28 remaining in the half. The Lyons roared back to close out the half with a blistering 13-2 run, paced by five points from Iafrate and punctuated by a three-ball from senior guard Sal Pedevillano (Parsippany, N.J.) to make it a one-possession game at 36-33 before the intermission.