Bryan Wholey '08 hits a floater for a 66-62 Bates lead with under a minute left. (Phyllis Graber Jensen photos)

Brian Ellis '11 had the hot hand, hitting 8-of-11 shots from the floor, including 3-4 on 3-pointers.

Chris Wilson '10 scored 10 points with a team-high four assists.

Wholey drives on Bowdoin's Andrew Hippert during the first half.

LEWISTON, Maine -- Bryan Wholey's offensive rebound and follow-up floater with 58 seconds left held up as the deciding margin of victory, as Bates College defeated Bowdoin College 66-65 in a non-league men's basketball game Saturday night before a raucous capacity crowd at Alumni Gym.

The Bobcats improved to 2-3 on the season by taking down the arch rival Polar Bears (4-2) in their home debut.

First-year Brian Ellis (Braintree, Mass.) scored a game-high 22 points to go with a team-high 8 rebounds for Bates. Wholey (Marshfield, Mass.) added 12 points, all in the second half, and grabbed 6 rebounds. Sophomore Chris Wilson (Brewer, Maine) added 10 points.

Andrew Hippert scored 20 points for Bowdoin, including a three-pointer that closed the gap to 66-65 with 47 seconds left in the game.

Bowdoin got the ball back with 16 seconds to go after Pat Halloran's (Plymouth, N.H.) missed three-pointer, but Jordan Fliegel was called for stepping on the end line after grabbing a loose ball underneath with two seconds remaining. Wholey successfully inbounded to Scott Place (Raynham, Mass.) with a 3/4-court pass to seal the win.

Fliegel scored 13 points with 8 rebounds for the Polar Bears. Andrew Sargeantson had a game-high 13 rebounds with 6 points and four assists.

Bates will host Thomas College on Tuesday at 7 p.m.; Bowdoin will play at Maine Maritime at the same time.

The veteran-laden Polar Bears threatened to put the Bobcats into an early hole, moving ahead 12-3 in the first five minutes of the game, thanks to six points by Fliegel and a pair of threes by Hippert and Mike Hauser. Bates countered with an 11-3 mini-run, hitting four shots in a row, three of them by Ellis. Bowdoin maintained a small lead, though, until a pair of Ellis free throws tied the game at 27 and a jumper by sophomore Sean Wirth (Barrington, R.I.) gave Bates its first lead at 29-27 with 3:09 left. Ellis stroked his third three in as many attempts with 57 seconds left in the half and Bates went into halftime with a 32-31 edge.

In the second half it was Bates that held a meager lead for the majority of the period, never leading by more than five but never trailing until 4:55 remained in the game and Sargeantson finished off a backdoor assist by Kyle Jackson with a layup for a 59-58 Bowdoin lead.

Halloran answered at the other end, however, driving hard for a layup for a 60-59 lead with 4:37 to play.

With under 3:55 remaining, Wholey canned a pair of foul shots for a 62-60 lead, and Hippert answered with a pair of his own foul shots.

Bates regained the lead on the next possession thanks to an improbable pull-up jumper by Ellis, a rainbow he converted despite having to double-pump after drawing contact from 18 feet out.

The game remained at 64-62 for over two minutes, until Wholey raced into the paint to collect the rebound of an Ellis miss with 1:00 left in the game, and hit the putback.

The Bobcats turned the ball over a mere four times in the game, while drawing 11 from Bowdoin, and held a 14-2 edge in points off turnovers.

BOX SCORE: Bates 66, Bowdoin 65