LEWISTON, Maine -- The Delpeche twins tallied double-doubles, first-year Jeff Spellman scored 16 points off the bench, and the Bates men's basketball team knocked off Hamilton 83-78 Friday night at Alumni Gym.
Friday's game featured the top-ranked defensive team in the NESCAC (Bates) against the top-ranked offensive team in the NESCAC (Hamilton). The Bobcats (12-3, 3-0 NESCAC) earned their seventh straight victory and the Continentals (10-3, 2-1 NESCAC) suffered their first conference lost of the season.
Senior Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) scored a game-high 17 points on 8-15 shooting. He pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. Meanwhile senior Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, Del.) scored 12 points and matched his career-high with 17 rebounds. He also blocked a game-high five shots.
Sophomore Michael Grassey led all scorers with 21 points for Hamilton. He also notched a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds.
Leading 47-40 at the half, Bates did not surrender the lead despite every attempt from Hamilton to mount a rally.
The Continentals cut the lead to 57-53 with 13:06 to go in the game thanks to a Grassey layup. Spellman responded with a layup of his own and first-year Tom Coyne (Falmouth, Maine) hit a three to put Bates up by nine.
The Bobcats went up by 10 with 7:56 to go on a Spellman (Boston, Mass.) layup. The first-year was outstanding for Bates off the bench, hitting a number of acrobatic shots in the lane.
But Hamilton refused to back down, going on a 6-0 run to cut the score to 69-65 in favor of Bates on a Jack Dwyer free throw with 4:34 remaining. Dwyer finished with 19 points on 8-15 shooting.
That's when senior Max Eaton (St. Petersburg, Fla.) brought the crowd to their feet with a three from the top of the key to extend the advantage to 72-65 with 4:10 to go in regulation. Eaton pounded his head with his hand in excitement as he went back on defense after hitting the big shot.
Although Dwyer responded with a jumper, senior co-captain Jerome Darling (Hartford, Conn.) hit his patented step-back three out of a timeout to make the score 75-67 in favor of Bates.
The Continentals stayed in the game thanks to a pair of late Grassey threes. His triple with 13 seconds to go cut the Bobcat advantage to 81-78.
But Darling drained a pair of free throws to ice the game for the Bobcats.
The Bobcats found themselves down 37-33 with 3:43 to go in the first half after Kena Gilmour made a layup for the Continentals.
But Malcolm Delpeche responded with back-to-back layups of his own, tying the game at 37 with 3:01 left in the half. After Spellman converted an old fashioned three-point play to give Bates the lead, Grassey responded with a three-pointer, tying the contest at 40 apiece with 2:31 left.
The Bobcats ended the first half on a 7-0 run that turned out to be the difference in the game. Malcolm Delpeche scored four of the seven points but a Quin Leary '17 (Auburn, Maine) three with just over a minute to go really got the crowd rocking at Alumni.
The Bobcats welcome number 15 nationally ranked Middlebury (11-2, 2-1 NESCAC) to town Saturday afternoon. Tip is set for 3:00 p.m.