WORCESTER, Mass. -- Junior captain Stephon Baxter scored a career-high 31 points but the Bates men's basketball team couldn't hold on to a halftime lead and fell 68-63 at Clark University Saturday afternoon. 

Turnovers cost the Bobcats (0-1) in the season opener, as Bates struggled to break the press, turning the ball over 24 times while Clark (3-0) only turned it over 12 times on the night. The Bobcats shot 42.9 percent from the field and Clark shot 37.7%. Bates also had more rebounds than the Cougars, finishing with 39 boards to Clark's 29. 

Bates led 61-60 on a layup from junior Jacob Iwowo (London, England) with 2:33 left in regulation. But Bruce Saintilus answered with a three for Clark to give the Cougars the lead for good. Baxter (Worcester, Mass.) cut the deficit to two with 1:29 remaining and Bates called timeout.

The Bobcats got a defensive stop, only to turn the ball over when Biko Gayman recorded his third steal of the night. Gayman made both his free throws to put the game out of reach for Bates. 

Clark's Zackary Mittelstadt came out firing early as he connected on a pair of early triples and Saintilus hit a jumper to give Clark an 8-6 lead with 15:23 to go in the first half before Bates took the lead at 23-14 with 9:04 left in the first on a three from first-year Taras Fesiienko (Everett, Wash.). The Bobcats then went on a 9-4 run over the next three minutes before Gayman and Saintilus added two more points apiece to pull Clark seven at 29-22 with 3:36 remaining in the first half. The Bobcats kept the Cougars at arm's length and led 32-25 after one half of play.

Clark held Bates without a bucket over the first 3:51 of the second half and went on an 8-0 sparked by six points from Tyler Davern and a pair of Gayman free throws as Bates fell down by one with 16:14 to play.

But Bates regained the lead with 16:09 to go in the second half on a three from first-year Grant Nadeau (Gorham, Maine). The Bobcats extended the lead to 49-44 with 9:40 left on a layup from sophomore Devin Harris (Bear, Del.) before Gayman, Saintilus, and Isaiah Taylor all added two points to give Clark a 50-49 advantage with 7:28 to go.

The teams then traded baskets over the next 3:24 and Bates took a 59-56 lead off a layup from junior Omar Sarr (Dakar, Senegal) before Saintilus knocked down a critical and-one three pointer with 3:12 and connected on the free throw as Clark led 60-59.

After Bates regained the lead on Iwowo's layup, Saintilus connected on another three-pointer off a pass from Gayman as Clark led 63-61 and a pair of Taylor free throws pushed the lead to four with 1:51 to go.

Saintilus led Clark with 19 points and shot 7-13 from the floor, while grabbing five rebounds. Gayman added 18 points on 5-11 shooting and dished out three assists. Taylor netted nine points, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, and recorded five steals.

Baxter shot 11-20 from the floor and 3-10 from three-point range. He dished out a team-high four assists and recorded a pair of steals. Sarr recorded a game-high nine rebounds and chipped in four points. Nadeau was Bates' second leading scorer with eight points on 3-6 shooting.

The Bobcats are back in action Monday when they visit Saint Joseph's College of Maine for a 7pm tip.