FARMINGTON, Maine – Bates College men's basketball rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the University of Maine at Farmington, 71-61, on Tuesday night at Dearborn Gymnasium.

The Bobcats (11-9) used a pressure defense and improved shooting in the second half to make their comeback as the host Beavers (8-11) held a lead as large as 17 points in the first period.

Junior Graham Safford (Hampden, Maine) paced Bates with 15 points and eight rebounds while classmate Adam Philpott (Gloucester, Mass.) netted 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point distance. Senior Luke Matarazzo (Shelton, Conn.) tallied 11 points, five assists, four rebounds, and four steals.

For UMF, junior Pet Sumner (Cramerton, N.C.) led all players with 16 points, and senior Nate Carson (Orrington, Maine) scored 15. The duo combined to shoot 7-of-14 from behind the arc.

Trailing 31-21 to start the second half, the Bobcats opened the second stanza with a 9-2 spurt and captured their first lead of the game at 38-37 behind a 17-6 run with 13:22 remaining.

After UMF briefly regained the lead, Bates used a 14-5 run to seize a 52-44 advantage with 8:22 to play as Philpott sank a pair of 3-pointers and junior Billy Selmon (Atlanta, Ga.) notched a triple of his own.

The visitors maintained at least a five-point edge over the next several minutes until the Beavers cut the margin to 60-57 with just less than four minutes left. Matarazzo responded however with consecutive buckets, and the Bobcats made 7-of-8 free throws inside of the final 60 seconds to seal the win.

Bates swept the season series against UMF as the Bobcats beat the Beavers 75-54 in Lewiston on Nov. 17 in the second game of the season for both teams.

The Beavers took a 10-0 lead out of the gates and built a 21-4 advantage just over seven minutes into the game, connecting on 5-of-6 shots from behind the arc during that stretch. The Bobcats cut their deficit to 23-14 with 7:36 to play in the half behind a 10-2 spurt as Philpott and Safford each hit 3-pointers.

UMF pushed its lead back to 17 points, 31-14, at the 2:23 mark with eight straight points, but Bates countered with the half's final seven points to trim UMaine-Farmington's edge to 31-21 at the break.

Next, Bates returns to NESCAC play at Williams on Friday at 8 p.m. and at Hamilton on Saturday at 4 p.m. while UMaine-Farmington plays at Lyndon State on Friday at 7:30 p.m.