CASTINE, Maine -- Sophomore guard
Jeff Spellman scored a career-high 24 points, including five in the overtime period, as the Bates men's basketball team took its first win of the young season 72-69 at Maine Maritime Academy Sunday afternoon.
The Bobcats (1-1) outscored the host Mariners (0-2) 13-10 in overtime and controlled the boards by a 51-40 margin overall, about 14 hours after they were badly outrebounded by Trinity in an 80-52 loss on Saturday night.
The back-and-forth battle of a game between intrastate opponents featured nine ties and 15 lead changes.
Spellman (Boston, Mass.) scored 12 points in the first half as Bates went into the break with a 28-26 lead. In overtime, he drained a 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining to draw the Bobcats within a point of the Mariners at 69-68. Spellman later grabbed the rebound on Brendan Newcomb's missed three-point attempt with nine seconds remaining, was fouled and made a pair of free throws to give Bates a 72-69 lead.
Newcomb's last-ditch three-point attempt to tie the game was blocked at the buzzer by junior center Nick Lynch (Westford, Mass.).
Bates sophomore Tom Coyne (Falmouth, Maine) scored 15 points, including a team-high 10 points in the second half with 2-of-2 shooting from beyond the arc and at the free-throw line. Coyne added four assists.
Sophomore guard Nick Gilpin's (Hampden, Maine) outstanding overall effort yielded 10 points, five assists, and a career-high 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. Lynch also collected a career-high 11 boards in addition to two blocks and six points, four of which were scored in overtime. Gilpin set up Lynch beautifully for the go-ahead layup that made it 70-69 in Bates' favor with 34 seconds left in overtime.
Senior Shawn Strickland (Middletown, Conn.) had seven rebounds and Bates received nice contributions off the bench from junior Max Hummel (Glastonbury, Conn.), with five points and four rebounds in 11 minutes, and first-year James Mortimer (Sudbury, Mass.), with six points and three boards in 19 minutes.
Adam Richardson led Maine Maritime with a triple-double, collecting 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Nicholas DePatsy also scored 18 points, making 6-of-13 shots from long distance, and Newcomb added 13 points.
Bates made 17-of-19 attempts from the free-throw line (.895) and is shooting .844 there as a team through two games.
Spellman's former career high of 21 points occurred against UMaine-Farmington on Jan. 31, 2017.
The Bobcats will play at the University of Southern Maine on Tuesday at 7:30pm, then play their home opener next Sunday at 5pm against the University of New England.
