WATERVILLE, Maine -- The Bates men's basketball team led wire to wire in avenging their last loss with a 75-62 victory at Colby in the NESCAC opener for both teams Friday night.

The Bobcats (10-3, 1-0 NESCAC) won their fifth straight game, a streak that began after the rivals' non-conference matchup on Dec. 10 in Lewiston, which was won by the Mules by a 55-54 score after a three-point play by Patrick Stewart with 0.2 seconds left.

Senior center Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) led Bates with 15 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots, three assists and a pair of steals. Delpeche was 6-for-12 from the field and made all three of his free throws.

Senior Jerome Darling (Hartford, Conn.) had 13 of his game-high 16 points in the second half to help Bates maintain a double-digit lead for much of the half. Junior Justin Zukowski (Portland, Maine) made all four of his field goal attempts in the first half and finished with 11 points from off the bench.

Sophomore Max Hummel (Glastonbury, Conn.) had 10 points and three assists, and first-year Nick Gilpin (Hampden, Maine) dished out seven of his game-high eight assists in the first half.

Stewart finished with 13 points, six rebounds, and three assists for Colby (6-5, 0-1 NESCAC). Ethan Schlager added 11 points, Joe Connelly and Ronan Schwarz both had 10 points, and Tyler Williams handed out seven assists.

Bates got off to a 9-2 lead and led the rest of the way. Schwarz scored inside to cut the Bobcat lead to 21-18, but Bates went on a 12-0 run to take a 33-18 margin on the way to a 42-33 halftime lead. The run included consecutive baskets by first-year Jeff Spellman (Boston, Mass.) in addition to hoops by Malcolm Delpeche, senior Quin Leary (Auburn, Maine), sophomore Eli Frater (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Zukowski.

Colby cut the lead to seven points twice in the second half, the last time at 47-40 on a jumper by Maximilian Steiner with 17 minutes remaining. Bates, though, scored the next six points to make it 53-40. Then Darling personally outscored the Mules 7-2 over a three-minute stretch, and a 3-pointer by senior Max Eaton (St. Petersburg, Fla.) opened up a 63-46 lead with 8:54 left.

The Bobcats shot 48.4 percent (30-for-62) from the field and had a 42-34 rebounding advantage.

Bates will continue NESCAC play at Bowdoin Saturday at 3pm.