BIDDEFORD, Maine -- First-year guard Jahmir Primer continued his burst on the scene of Bates men's basketball, as he poured in a game-high 21 points to lead the Bobcats to an 86-48 non-conference victory at the University of New England on Sunday.

A cast of first-year and sophomore players helped the Bobcats (3-2) win their second game in a row and their third in the past four contests.

Primer (Hempstead, N.Y.), making his second straight start and his fourth appearance in a Bobcat uniform, shot 10-17 from the field and added three rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes of action; last Tuesday, Primer made his first start and had 14 points and five assists in Bates' win over Southern Maine.

First-year guard Drew Sachs (Ann Arbor, Mich.) scored 11 points from off the bench, while first-year forward Stephen Ward (Boston, Mass.) and senior forward Andrew Snoddy (Stow, Mass.) added 10 points apiece. Sophomore forward Devin Harris (Bear, Del.) grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in 11 minutes and sophomore guard Simon McCormick (Whitefield, Maine), making his first start in addition to Ward, scored nine points and dished out a game-high seven assists for the Bobcats.

With 19 points, Alex Kravchuk was the only player to score more than five for the host Nor'easters (1-7).

For the second straight game, the Bobcats shot better than 47 percent from the floor (.474) and controlled the boards, outrebounding UNE 58-48. Bates' stifling defense limited the Nor'easters to a team field goal percentage of .195 (15-77), including a .182 (6-33) mark from three.

A free throw by McCormick tied the game at 3-3, and a layup by junior center Omar Sarr (Dakar, Senegal) gave the Bobcats the lead for good at 5-3 with 16:45 remaining in the first half. Primer followed that with a fast-break layup and a second-chance 3-pointer for an early 10-3 Bates lead.

The Bobcats grew their lead to 21-8, before an 8-0 UNE run cut the deficit to five. After a timeout, Snoddy assisted junior Cam Riley (Sparta, N.J.) for a layup, then made a steal and a dunk to return the lead to nine, and with a barrage of 3-pointers Bates finished out the half outscoring UNE 22-7 over the final 5:04 of the period, for a 45-25 halftime lead. Sachs made two threes in the run, and McCormick and junior forward Jacob Iwowo (London, England) hit on one apiece.

Iwowo scored the first hoop of the second half, and the Bobcats grew the lead to 28 points (59-31) in the first five minutes of the period, and Bates coasted the rest of the way to a 38-point margin of victory.

Bates will return home Friday at 7pm to host Colby in the rivals' annual non-conference matchup.