Lewiston, Maine - Senior captain guard Jaquann Starks (Hartford, Conn.) had 14 points, four assists, and two blocks to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 78-66 win over the Bates College Bobcats in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's basketball action this evening at Alumni Gym.  Trinity improves to 16-6 overall and takes over first place in the NESCAC with a 7-1 league mark with two games left to play.  Bates falls to 10-12 overall and 2-7 in the league with its sixth loss in a row and its third-straight setback to the Bantams.  Trinity, which finished at the top of the NESCAC standings last season, finishes undefeated in conference road games for the second year in a row (10-0).  The game was delayed 150 minutes when a backboard shattered and had to be replaced.

Trailing, 24-23, with 3:09 left in the first half, the Bantams took a five-point lead on back-to-bakc treys by Starks and junior Chris Turnbull (Ridgewood, N.J.) to take a 29-24 lead. Bates cut the lead to two with 28 seconds to go on a Nick Lynch (Westford, Mass.) layup, but Starks made a steal and fed Turnbull for a layup to take a 31-27 lead into halftime.  Trinity went on a 13-0 run to take control of the contest early in the second stanza and put the game out of reach with a 10-0 spurt just before the midpoint of the secons half.  Bates got as close as 69-61 with 3:25 on the cloc, thanks largely to four long balls by sophomore Justin Zurkowski (Portland, Maine), but Starks answered with four points in a row to seal the win.

Starks was the lone Bantam in double figures in scoring, while Zurkowski paced the Bobcats with 19 points.  Trinity junior Ed Ogundeko (Brooklyn, N.Y.) grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, as the Bantams finished with a 40-to-32 edge on the boards.  Trinity made 26 free throws in 32 tries for a 81.3 percentage, while Bates missed 12 of its 26 chances from the charity stripe.  Trinity also connected on eight of 14 three-point shots.