LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College men's basketball team led wire-to-wire and improved to 6-0 with a 76-70 win over Colby College on Tuesday night in Alumni Gymnasium, in the NESCAC rivals' annual non-conference matchup.
Bates never led by more than 13 points, but Colby (5-3) could get no closer than within three points over the final 34 minutes of the game.
Junior Mike Boornazian (Portland, Conn.) scored a team-high 18 points for Bates, while sophomore Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) went for 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) posted career-highs of six blocked shots and five assists in addition to 11 points and seven rebounds. Senior Graham Safford (Hampden, Maine) added 11 points and six boards.
Chris Hudnut scored a game-high 26 points with eight rebounds and five assists for Colby. Luke Westman added 16 points and four assists, and Connor O'Neil contributed 10 points and three steals.
The Bobcats outshot the Mules from the field in the first half, 44.4% to 35.7%, en route to a 37-28 halftime lead. But the Mules rebounded by shooting 55.6% in the second period, while Bates remained at 44.4%. Bates shot 25-28 from the free-throw line (89.3%) while Colby made 14-20 (70%).
The opening two minutes couldn't have gone much better for Bates, with the Bobcats blocking the 6-foot-8 Hudnut's first two shots and turning them into a putback dunk by Marcus Delpeche for the game's opening points, and a layup by senior Billy Selmon (Atlanta, Ga.) off a Safford lob pass. A steal by Selmon then led to a Safford lob to Boornazian for a layup and a 6-0 lead, prompting a Colby timeout just 78 seconds into the game.
Colby's Ryan Jann canned a three to cut it to 10-8 with 14:15 to go, but Bates junior Josh Britten (Yarmouth, Maine) came off the bench to drain a three of his own on his first touch of the game.
Colby's Joseph Connelly scored eight points in a row for the Mules, with two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws that cut it to 25-18. A jumper by Jann closed the gap to 25-20 with 6:16 left in the period, but Boornazian bumped the lead to eight with a three, at 28-20. Boornazian and Malcolm Delpeche made four straight free throws for a 35-24 lead before Colby cut the deficit in the closing minute with layups by Westman and Hudnut.
Marcus Delpeche scored six points in the first three minutes of the second half, including a layup on a Malcolm Delpeche assist and a tip-dunk on a missed layup by Safford, making it 45-34 with 17:14 left. Colby then scored eight unanswered points, with Westman driving for back-to-back layups, followed by a Hudnut jumper and a pair of free throws by O'Neil, to close the deficit to its lowest point of the period, at 45-42 with 14:56 to go.
Britten came off the bench and again made a clutch three almost immediately, giving Bates some breathing room at 48-42. Both teams traded misses before Hudnut kicked out to O'Neil for another three to close it to three again, at 48-45.
From the 12:43 to the 5:51 mark of the period, only Hudnut managed to score for Colby. His seven points in that time kept the Mules within striking distance during that time, but Bates meanwhile scored 16 points in answer. Boornazian scored six points in the 16-7 run that made it 64-52 in Bates' favor with 6:00 left to play.
A layup by Marcus Delpeche made it 70-60 Bates with 2:32 left, but Colby scored seven straight in a final run at the lead, capped by a 25-foot 3-pointer by Jann that closed the gap to 70-67 with 1:02 to go. Bates made four of six free throws in the last 45 seconds, good enough to hang on to the lead, even though O'Neil made one last three on a Hudnut assist with 5 seconds to go.
The rivals will meet again in a NESCAC game on Feb. 14 in Waterville. Bates will host Bowdoin in another non-conference game on Thursday at 7pm, while Colby will next play at Bowdoin on Saturday at 4pm.