FARMINGTON, Maine -- The Bates men's basketball team rallied from 13 points down in the second half but fell just short, falling 87-85 on the road to the University of Maine-Farmington Wednesday night.
Terion Moss paced the Beavers (14-3) with a game-high 25 points and two UMF players recorded double-doubles on the evening. Riley Robinson tallied 24 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. And Bill Ruby poured in 18 points on 8-13 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds and a game-high six assists.
Senior Kody Greenhalgh (West Warwick, R.I.) led the Bobcats (9-6) with 21 points, eight rebounds and a team-high four assists. First-year Stephon Baxter (Worcester, Mass.) came off the bench to score 16 points on 6-10 shooting and senior Tom Coyne (Falmouth, Maine) added 12 points for Bates. First-year Omar Sarr (Dakar, Senegal) battled foul trouble but ended up with seven points on 3-4 shooting, a team-high 13 rebounds and a game-high four blocked shots.
Fouls proved to be the name of the game Wednesday, with the Bobcats getting called for 19 fouls on the night. By contrast, UMF only got called for six fouls. The Beavers made 17-22 free throws and the Bobcats made 5-7 from the line. Bates stayed in the game by knocking down 16 three-pointers. Sophomore Joe Collins (Cutchogue, N.Y.) provided a spark off the bench by hitting 3-6 from long range for a career-high nine points.
UMF led 40-37 at halftime and opened up a 59-46 lead with 13:56 left in regulation on a Robinson three-pointer. The Bobcats still trailed by double figures after a pair of Robinson free throws at 81-70 with 3:45 remaining. But Bates got hot down the stretch. Coyne drilled a pair of threes and Baxter hit a jumper, trimming the UMF lead to 82-78 with 2:05 left in regulation.
A Greenhalgh layup cut the deficit to two before Robinson answered with a jumper to put UMF up 84-80 with 49 seconds left. Baxter's layup with 21 seconds left made the score 84-82 before Issac Witham hit a pair of free throws.
Down by four, the Bobcats got a huge three from Greenhalgh with 10 seconds left to make the score 86-85. Ruby split a pair of free throws but Greenhalgh's layup as time expired did not fall and Bates fell by two.
The Bobcats took a 29-23 lead on a Collins three-pointer with 8:11 left in the first half. But the Beavers answered with a 10-0 run, going up 33-29 on a Ruby layup with 6:14 remaining. Bates went up 35-34 when Sarr converted a three-point play with 4:16 left. Then Ruby answered with another layup with 3:34 on the clock and the Beavers never trailed again.
Bates played without leading scorer senior Jeff Spellman (Boston, Mass.) but still scored the program's third most points in a game this season.
The Bobcats look to bounce back Saturday when they return to NESCAC action with a visit to Tufts for a 3pm tip.
