LEWISTON, Maine -- Sophomore
Justin Zukowski scored a career-high 19 points to lead a second-half comeback attempt that fell short, as the Bates men's basketball team fell to Trinity 78-66 Saturday at Alumni Gym, in a rematch of Sweet Sixteen foes from a season ago.
Zukowski '18 (Portland, Maine) christened a brand-new backboard -- the old one was shattered before the opening tipoff, delaying the game by more than 2 1/2 hours -- by scoring all of his points in the second half as the Bobcats tried to claw back from a 23-point deficit. Zukowski went 5-9 on threes and 6-10 on shots overall.
The Bobcats (10-12, 2-7 NESCAC) kept the game close throughout the first half with the Bantams (16-6, 7-1 NESCAC).
With 14:05 to go in the first half, Max Eaton '17 (St. Petersburg, Fla.) sunk a pair of free throws to put Bates up 10-7. He paced the Bobcats in the first half with seven points. An Eaton layup with 11:57 remaining in the half put Bates up 16-11.
But Trinity went on a 9-0 run to take a 20-16 lead.
With 6:00 remaining in the half Jerome Darling '17 (Hartford, Conn.) drained a tree to tie the game at 20. An Eaton free throw with 3:09 remaining put Bates back on top, 24-23.
The Bantams responded with back-to-back threes from Jaquann Starks and Chris Turnbull to take a 29-24 lead over the Bobcats. Starks finished with a team-high 14 points.
Bates cut the lead to two with 28 seconds to go on a Nick Lynch '19 (Westford, Mass.) layup. Lynch had a strong performance, finishing with seven points on 3-3 shooting. He also hauled in four rebounds and tallied two blocks on the night.
Trinity forced a turnover and got a Turnbull layup to take a 31-27 lead into halftime.
With 18:23 remaining in the game, Bates trailed 33-30. That's when the Bantams went on a 13-0 run to take control of the contest. Bates didn't score again until a Zukowski three cut the deficit to 46-33 with 13:26 left.
Trinity immediately went on a 10-0 run to take a 23-point lead with 10:45 to go.
Bates refused to back down on Senior Day. They scratched and clawed their way back into the contest, pulling to within eight at 69-61 with 3:25 left on a pair of Mike Boornazian '16 (Portland, Conn.) free throws.
This was the part of the game where Zukowski went off, hitting four of his three-pointers during the Bobcats' 28-13 run.
But eight points was as close as the Bobcats could get as Trinity hung on down the stretch to win by 12.
The game was delayed just minutes before tipoff when Trinity's Ed Ogundeko shattered the backboard with a dunk in pregame warmups.
Bates honored their three seniors on Saturday as well. Captains Boornazian, Josh Britten (Yarmouth, Maine) and Mike Newton (Chapel Hill, N.C.) leave behind a proud legacy, including the program's first NCAA tournament bid last season.
The Bobcats hit the road to visit Bowdoin Tuesday night. Opening tip is set for 7:00 p.m.
