Gallant	Schmiemann
Place	Hatch

CLINTON, N.Y. -- Jon Furbush '05 got a win in his head coaching debut with the Bates College men's basketball team, as the Bobcats defeated Wells College 80-63 Friday night in the opening round of the Hamilton College Tipoff Tournament.

Bates (1-0) will face Hamilton in the tournament championship game tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Sophomore forward Alex Gallant (Bangor, Maine) led the Bobcats with career highs of 16 points and 9 rebounds, while shooting 6 of 8 from the floor and hitting all four of his free throws. Sophomore forward Nick Schmiemann (Weymouth, Mass.) came off the bench for a career-high 14 points. Senior co-captain Scott Place (Bridgewater, Mass.) added 11 and junior guard Marshall Hatch (Chicago, Ill.) scored a career-high 10 points to round out the team's double-figure scorers. Junior point guard Chris Wilson (Brewer, Maine) dished out a game-high 5 assists to go with 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Darrell Bullock scored a game-high 28 points for Wells (1-3), making 12 of 19 shots from the field, and added a team-high 4 assists. Greg Jones added 10 points for the Express, who are in their first season as an NCAA Division III program.

Bates jumped out to a 45-30 lead in the first half, shooting 51.5 percent from the floor and 9-10 at the line. The Bobcats cooled off in the second half, hitting 8 of 27 shots from the floor but canning 17 of 18 free throws.

Hatch nailed a three-pointer on the Bobcats' first shot of the season for a 3-0 lead, and the Bobcats never trailed, though the Express kept it close throughout the first 15 minutes and narrowed the gap to as little as one point, at 28-27, on a Jones 3-pointer with 5:19 to go. But Gallant answered with a jumper, kicking off a 17-3 Bates run to finish out the period. Bates kept the lead in double digits throughout the second half, building a margin of as many as 23 points on two occasions.

Bates outrebounded Wells 44-29 and accumulated a 36-13 advantage in bench points.

STATS: Bates 80, Wells 63

Read the Bates men's basketball season preview.