KEENE, N.H. -- Junior Jack Allard scored a career-high seven goals and sophomore Andrew Melvin dished out a career-high six assists as the Bates men's lacrosse team defeated host Keene State 17-11 in a non-conference game on Wednesday.

The Owls (3-4) were ranked 10th in this week's New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division III poll, while the Bobcats (4-3) had dropped out of the rankings after being tied for 10th last week.

Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.), who also had two assists, scored the most goals by a Bobcat in at least 10 years, and had the most points by a Bobcat (9) since March 26, 2007, when Nick Woods had nine against Southern Maine. Melvin (Medfield, Mass.), who also scored a goal, recorded the most assists by a Bobcat since Luke Charest had six against Southern Maine on March 30, 2010. The team's single-game scoring record is nine goals, set by Mike D'Addario against Gordon in 1997.

Allard scored in every quarter, and Bates outshot Keene State in every quarter for a 51-34 edge in shot attempts. 

Senior Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.) scored three goals with one assist for Bates. Sophomore Kyle Weber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) posted a goal with two assists, sophomore Charlie Fay (Falmouth, Maine) scored twice, and senior Evan Chen (Katonah, N.Y.) pitched in a goal and an assist.

Junior Joe Faria (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) had 15 saves in net for Bates, and sophomore Sam Francis (Newburyport, Mass.) won 16 of 25 faceoffs, leading the Bobcats to a 20-12 overall advantage in that category.

Rob Hart led the Owls with three goals and one assist. Hunter Arnold and Tyler McKelvie added two scores apiece, and Dylan Florian was credited with 18 saves in goal.

Bates senior Reid Lewallen (Portland, Ore.) got the scoring started with 10:48 left in the first quarter, on Melvin's first assist of the day. McKelvie tied it up at 1-1, but Melvin scored at 3:55, on the first of sophomore Jake Walsh's (Baltimore, Md.) two assists. After Hart tied it up again at 2-2 on a Kevin Carey assist with 1:53 to go in the first, Allard scored with 14 seconds left in the opening stanza for a 3-2 lead. 

The Bobcats never looked back from there, thanks to an explosive second quarter that saw their lead expand to 9-3 at the break. Fay and Chen scored back-to-back goals to make it 5-2, and in the final five minutes of the quarter both Allard and Strain rang up two goals apiece, each assisting the other on the last two scores of the half.

The Owls outscored the Bobcats 4-3 in the third quarter to shorten the lead to five (12-7), and Rob Hart scored on a Ryan Hart assist 17 seconds into the fourth quarter to narrow the gap to 12-8. Weber fed Fay to regain the five-goal advantage with 13:38 left, but Rob Hart tallied again at 10:31, closing the gap to 13-9.

Bates then put the game away for good with four straight goals, beginning with Allard's sixth tally on a Chen assist at 9:17 and his seventh at the 7:00, assisted by Weber. Strain scored Bates' lone man-up goal with 6:57 to go, and the Bobcats opened up a 17-9 lead with 5:18 left, as Allard hit senior Conor Henrie (Lexington, Mass.) for the score.

Junior Ken O'Friel (Scarsdale, N.Y.) had four ground balls and forced two turnovers, while junior Matt Proto (Chatham, N.J.) forced three turnovers.

Bates has won three of its past four games, and returns home to Garcelon Field on Saturday to take on NESCAC rival Hamilton at 1pm.