LEWISTON, Maine -- Senior Marcus Delpeche became the 33rd player in Bates men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points in a close 65-62 loss to the Williams College Ephs Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium. 

Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) entered the game needing 10 points to reach 1,000 for his career. He reached the milestone on a bank shot from the baseline with 3:09 to go in the first half. Delpeche went on to score a team-high 17 points, giving him 1,007 for his career heading into the NESCAC Championships. He also tallied a game-high 12 rebounds on Sunday. 

With the loss, Bates (15-9, 4-6 NESCAC) enters the NESCAC Championships as the No. 7 seed. They will visit No. 2 seed and defending tournament champion Middlebury for the NESCAC quarterfinals Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Down 59-49 with 6:46 to go in the game, Bates made their move. Senior Quin Leary (Auburn, Maine) hit the first of back-to-back jumpers to cut the deficit to six with five minutes left.

Then Marcus Delpeche threw down a dunk and senior co-captain Jerome Darling (Hartford, Conn.) drained a three to make the score 59-58 in favor of the Ephs with 2:38 remaining in regulation.

But after Cole Teal missed a three on the other end, the ball landed in the hands of the Ephs' Michael Kempton. Kempton found a wide open Bobby Casey in the left wing and Casey knocked down a huge three to push the advantage back to four with 2:10 left in the game.

First-year Jeff Spellman (Boston, Mass.) hit an acrobatic layup with 1:11 remaining to cut the deficit to two but Teal responded with yet another three, extending the Williams advantage to 65-60 with 43 seconds left on the clock.

Another Spellman layup made the score 65-62 and Bates got one last chance to tie the game after the Ephs turned the ball over with just under three seconds remaining.

But Spellman's heave from the top of the key hit the right side of the rim and bounced off as the buzzer sounded. 

Bates struggled all day from deep, hitting only 5-25 (20%) from long range compared to the Ephs' 11-28 (39.3%) clip. 

Nonetheless, Bates led for much of the first half. 

The Bobcats took a 21-12 lead with 9:00 left in the first half when sophomore Max Hummel (Glastonbury, Conn.) hit a three from the right wing.

The Ephs answered with a 6-0 run before Marcus Delpeche put Bates up 23-18 on a layup with 6:13 to go in the first.

Daniel Aronowitz was a problem all game for Bates, scoring a game-high 22 points. His three with 5:22 left in the first half tied the game at 23.

Williams (17-7, 5-5 NESCAC) took the lead for good on a Bobby Casey three with 4:59 to go, putting them up 26-23. The three capped off an 8-0 run for the Ephs.

The Bobcats refused to go away, cutting the deficit to one three different times down the stretch in the first half. Delpeche's 1,000th career point made the score 30-29 in favor of Williams. 

But Aronowitz scored the final six points of the half for the Ephs and Williams took a 36-32 lead into halftime over the Bobcats.

Delpeche made a layup with 18:15 to go in the game to trim the Ephs' lead to 38-36. Then Williams went on a 14-3 run to go up 52-39 with 14:50 to go on a James Heskett three, their biggest lead of the game.

Senior Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) responded with a personal 6-0 run, including a steal and a coast-to-coast-dunk to get the Bobcats to within seven with 13:21 left. Delpeche finished the game with 16 points, seven rebounds, two steals and three blocks.

Teal made all four of his threes in the second half, and his three-pointer with 13:07 to go put Williams back up by 10. Teal finished with a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds), coming up big down the stretch to help lead Williams to the win.

The Bobcats honored their six seniors on Sunday. Darling, the Delpeche twins, Leary, co-captain Connor McLeod (Needham, Mass.) and Max Eaton (St. Petersburg, Fla.) all played their final home games for Bates.