BANGOR, Maine -- Senior Graham Safford had 13 points, eight assists and six rebounds, and junior Mike Newton came off the bench with 10 points and eight rebounds to keep the Bates men's basketball team undefeated with a 74-65 non-conference win at Husson University on Saturday. A 14-0 Bates run in the second half proved to be the difference in the outcome.
Junior Mike Boornazian (Portland, Conn.) and sophomore Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) scored 11 points apiece for the Bobcats (3-0), with Delpeche throwing down three rim-rattling dunks in the final eight minutes of regulation to put an exclamation point on the evening's performance.
Bates fell behind by as many as eight points in the first half, as Husson made five 3-pointers in the opening 12 minutes, before a 12-2 run gave the Bobcats their first lead at 22-21 with 3:15 left in the period, on a layup by senior Billy Selmon (Atlanta, Ga.). A three by Husson's Eli Itkin returned the lead to the Eagles and started a 9-2 run before a layup by Boornazian with three seconds left closed Husson's advantage to 30-27 at halftime.
Husson's Aaron Willis, who scored a game-high 14 points, opened the second half with a three to expand the lead to 33-27, but Safford responded with a putback, followed by a layup off a steal by sophomore Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.). Malcolm Delpeche fed his brother Marcus for a layup and three-point play to close the gap to 35-34, and a pair of free throws by Selmon put Bates back on top, 36-35, with 16:09 to go. Husson was able to tie the game up three more times down the stretch but never regained the lead.
After a pair of free throws by Husson's Jacob Moore with 11:41 left in the game, Bates ripped off 14 unanswered points in a span of 4:23, beginning with a drive and layup by Safford and continuing with hoops by Marcus Delpeche, two straight layups by senior Adam Philpott(Gloucester, Mass.), four consecutive points by Newton and a dunk by Marcus Delpeche that made it 58-44 with 7:18 left in the game.
Husson cut the lead to 60-50 with a 6-2 run, but Bates answered with a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach at 69-50 with 2:33 to play. Safford scored five unanswered points in the run, then assisted on Marcus Delpeche's final dunk to make it 69-50.
Itkin finished with 12 points for Husson (1-1), while Raheem Anderson added 13 and Matt Talbot scored 10.
The Bobcats will next host Southern Maine on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7:30pm.