Senior Graham Safford shrugged off the Bates men's basketball team's disappointing loss at Bowdoin on Friday night by leading the Bobcats to an important 82-77 win the following day at Colby. The victory was the team's first NESCAC road win, came against a formidable opponent and rival in the Mules, established a team record for regular-season conference wins (7) and allowed Bates to host one of this weekend's four NESCAC quarterfinal playoff games as the third seed.
Safford (Hampden, Maine) led Bates in points (17), rebounds (10) and assists (4) in the game. His 17 points moved him ahead of Mike Marsh '97 (1,148) and Erik Bertelsen '72 (1,153) into 18th place on Bates' all-time scorers list, with 1,158 points.
At 7-3, Bates finished in a two-way tie with Bowdoin for second place in the NESCAC's final standings. The Bobcats will host Wesleyan (16-8, 5-5) this Saturday, Feb. 21, at 3pm in the conference quarterfinals, in what will be Bates' first home postseason game since 2010.
Safford ranks among the top 20 in the NESCAC in five major statistical categories: he is first in steals (1.9), second in assists (6.3), sixth in scoring (15.1), ninth in free-throw percentage (.788) and 17th in rebounding (5.4).
