LEWISTON, Maine -- Senior Billy Selmon stole a pass and streaked down the floor for a go-ahead layup with 26 seconds remaining, and the Bates men's basketball team held on for a 73-71 win over Hamilton College on Saturday afternoon, completing a 12-0 regular-season home schedule in Alumni Gym. The back-and-forth game featured five ties and 14 lead changes.
Bates (17-4, 6-2 NESCAC) won its sixth straight game, all at home, and with their fifth straight league win, the Bobcats assumed sole possession of second place in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, trailing only Trinity (18-5, 8-1). The Bobcats will hit the road next weekend to play at Bowdoin on Friday at 7pm and Colby on Saturday at 3pm.
Hamilton (13-9, 1-7 NESCAC) suffered its third straight loss, all against NESCAC opponents. The Continentals will host NESCAC foe Wesleyan on Friday at 7pm.
Junior Mike Boornazian (Portland, Conn.) led the Bobcats with 21 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore center Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) added 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Senior Graham Safford (Hampden, Maine), senior Adam Philpott (Gloucester, Mass.) and sophomore forward Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) scored nine points apiece, with Safford adding nine assists and Philpott and Delpeche combining for 10 boards.
Hamilton senior guard and leading scorer Jeremy Lin was hurt early in the first half and made two brief appearances afterward, totaling 10 minutes in all. In his stead, freshman guard Jack Dwyer led the Continentals with a career-high 15 points to go with six assists and two steals. Joe Pucci added 10 points with 10 rebounds, and Peter Kazickas pitched in with 10 points and four steals. Leading rebounder Ajani Santos fouled out in 14 minutes of action, finishing with six points and three rebounds.
Selmon (Atlanta, Ga.) was 0-for-8 from the field going into the final minute of the game before his clutch steal, which returned the lead to Bates after the Bobcats had fallen behind 69-64. Hamilton called timeout and with 14 seconds to go, Jack Donnelly missed a deep 3-pointer. Boornazian won the scramble for the rebound and was fouled with 11 seconds left. Boornazian made his first free throw and missed his second, starting the clock as Hamilton's Wes Wilbur controlled the rebound. With no timeouts remaining, Hamilton pushed the ball up and set up a three-point attempt at the top of the arc by Kelan McConnell. McConnell missed the would-be go-ahead three and Wilbur rebounded, but the Continentals couldn't get a putback attempt off before the final buzzer sounded.
After losing the rebounding battle 24-16 in the first half, Hamilton made up the difference and more for a 37-35 edge by the end of regulation time. The Continentals fell despite shooting 51.0 percent from the field in the game, including 50% (8-16) from three-point territory.
Bates shot only 40.7 percent from the field and 15% (3-20) from beyond the arc. The Bobcats made 22 of 31 free-throw attempts (71.0%), with Hamilton getting whistled for 27 fouls in the game, a season-high for any Bates opponent.
Senior Cam Kaubris (Rumford, Maine), one of four Bates senior captains in the starting lineup on Senior Day, drilled a deep 3-pointer for a Bobcat 13-5 lead with 14:32 to go in the first half; the eight-point difference stood up as the largest lead by either team the rest of the way. By the 7:36 mark of the first half, the Continentals had tied the game at 26-26 with a 3-pointer by Donnelly and a free throw by Dwyer capping a 21-13 Hamilton run. A layup by junior Mike Newton (Chapel Hill, N.C.) and a 3-pointer by Safford made it 31-26 in Bates' favor with 6:31 to go, but the Continentals patiently etched out a 6-0 run with three unanswered layups to take a 32-31 lead at 5:02. Bates then ran off six points in a row, with a dunk by Boornazian and four straight free throws, for a 41-35 lead with 1:40 to go. But the Continentals closed within two points before the halftime break, with two free throws by Karl Koster and a Dwyer layup with 12 seconds to go in the opening period.