BIDDEFORD, Maine -- All five starters scored in double figures and the Bates men's basketball team remained unbeaten with a 101-85 victory at the University of New England in a non-conference game Sunday evening at the Harold Alfond Forum.
The Bobcats (5-0) are off to their best start since the 2006-07 campaign, which featured 11 consecutive wins to start the year. The Nor'easters dropped to 1-4 despite shooting 55.1 percent from the field in the game, including 64.7% (11-17) from behind the arc.
Bates received 21 points apiece from senior guard Billy Selmon (Atlanta, Ga.) and sophomore center Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.), who were a combined 17-of-24 from the field. Selmon had four of his five treys and 14 points after halftime en route to his season-high in points; Delpeche added three blocks while tying his career-high in scoring.
Senior point guard Graham Safford (Hampden, Maine) posted a double-double with 19 points and a career-high 14 assists, in addition to collecting a game-high eight rebounds and three steals.
Junior Mike Boornazian (Portland, Conn.) had 11 of his 12 points in the opening frame, and sophomore Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) tallied eight of his 10 in the second stanza.
The Bobcats, who never trailed in the contest, shot 56 percent (36 for 64) from the floor and went 12-of-23 (52 percent) from deep.
UNE's Devin Thompson registered a career-best 36 points in the game, eclipsing his previous high by five as he made all but one of seven 3-point attempts. The junior guard, who had 21 points at the break, also notched four assists, four steals, and three blocks. Evrim Ozkan contributed 13 points off the bench, and CJ Autry did not miss a shot on the way to 11 points. Jean-Luc Parker had 10 points for UNE.
The Bobcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead after two minutes, but the hosts assembled a 12-4 run to tie things at 14-all with six minutes gone. The scoreboard was level at 19-19 and 22-22 before Bates took control near the midway mark of the fisrt period.
The cushion peaked at 13 (48-35) with a little more than three minutes left in the half, before UNE closed with a 10-4 stretch to make it 52-45 at intermission. The Nor'easters trailed after 20 minutes despite shooting 58 percent (14-of-24) from the floor and going a perfect 7-of-7 from behind the arc.
Following the initial basket of the 2nd frame that cut the gap to five, Bates used an 11-2 spurt to bump the margin to 15 (66-51).
UNE got within nine points of Bates on two occasions down the stretch (76-67, 92-83), but was unable to draw any closer. The second time came with 2:12 left on the clock, and after a Bobcats timeout, Marcus Delpeche ended the 7-0 UNE run with a dunk. Seven unanswered free throws pushed the lead to its highest point (18) before Thompson capped his performance with one final jumper.
Bates returns home to face Colby College on Tuesday at 7pm, in the rivals' annual non-conference matchup.