LEWISTON, Maine -- Junior Mike Boornazian scored 26 points as the Bates men's basketball team defeated UMaine-Farmington 77-64 on Tuesday night, for their fourth straight victory and a 10-0 record at home.
Bates (15-4) shot 53.7 percent from the field, their second-highest percentage of the season, while holding UMF to 38.2% shooting. Bates has won 15 games for the first time since the 2007-08 season, when the Bobcats finished 17-8. The Bobcats continue with the fourth contest of their five-game homestand on Friday, hosting NESCAC rival Williams at 7pm.
The visiting Beavers dropped to 4-15 with their seventh consecutive setback. UMF hosts North Atlantic Conference foe Lyndon State on Friday at 5:30.
Boornazian (Portland, Conn.) recorded his season high on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, 3-of-6 from three-point territory. He added six rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) added 16 points, shooting 6-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line, to go with a team-hgih seven rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Senior Adam Philpott (Gloucester, Mass.) added 10 points. Twelve Bobcats played, with 11 of them receiving nine or more minutes of playing time.
Uriah Forest-Bulley led UMF with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Nick Hilton scored 14 points with six boards. Ryan Camire pitched in with 11 points and Eric Berry handed out five assists.
UMF jumped out to a 9-4 lead to start the game, with Forest-Bulley scoring the Beavers' first six points on two Berry-assisted hoops and two free throws, and Hilton capping the run with a 3-pointer assisted by Forest-Bulley with 16:00 to go in the opening period.
Bates substituted its entire lineup at that point and tied the game at 9-9 with back-to-back hoops by sophomore Max Eaton (St. Petersburg, Fla.), including a three, both assisted by sophomoreJerome Darling (Hartford, Conn.). A layup by Philpott and a three by fellow senior captain Cam Kaubris (Rumford, Maine) gave Bates a 16-11 lead. Farmington retook the lead at 19-18 on a Ryan Camire layup, then again at 21-20 on a Tom McGowan jumper, but a three by Boornazian returned the lead to Bates for good at 23-21 with 6:47 left in the half. Boornazian added a three-point play, and then a dunk by senior Billy Selmon (Atlanta, Ga.) on a first-year Shawn Strickland (Middletown, Conn.) assist made it 28-23.
The Bobcats led 33-25 before Mike Newton made a steal and threw it ahead to Boornazian for a breakaway dunk, to begin a personal 6-0 run for Boornazian to finish out the half, for a 39-25 Bates lead. The Bobcats shot 63.0 percent (17-27) in the opening stanza.
Bates put more distance between itself and UMF to open the second half, as Boornazian continued his one-man run with a period'opening layup and a three, for a 44-25 Bobcat lead. Boornazian soon after fed Marcus Delpeche for a post-up jumper for a 50-31 Bates edge, tying for the largest difference in the game.
The Beavers chipped away at the lead, getting as close as 57-49 with 9:11 to go, representing an 18-7 UMF run. Camire scored seven points in the spurt. But a Boornazian free throw and a Boornazian-assisted layup by Philpott bumped the advantage back into double digits (60-49) and prompted a UMF timeout with 8:12 to go. The Beavers were unable to get any closer than nine points the rest of the way.