LEWISTON, Maine -- Junior captain Stephon Baxter scored a game-high 28 points on 10-19 shooting and the Bates men's basketball team defeated rival Bowdoin 80-74 Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym. 

With the game tied at 50, Bates (4-3) took the lead for good when first-year Drew Sachs (Ann Arbor, Mich.) drained a three with 13:24 left in regulation. The Bobcats opened up an 11-point lead on the Polar Bears (7-3) multiple times in the second half on their way to victory. A Michael Simonds lay up with 2:05 to go trimmed the Bobcat lead to five before Baxter (Worcester, Mass.) hit a jumper with 42 seconds remaining to make it a three-score game at 76-69. The Polar Bears got to within four with 13 seconds left on a Simonds three-pointer but it was too late for the visitors to catch up. Baxter made a pair of free throws late to ice the game. 

Baxter turned in his best shooting performance of the season from three-point range, draining 4-8 from long distance. First-year Jahmir Primer (Hempstead, N.Y.) added 17 points on 8-11 shooting. Sophomore Simon McCormick (Whitefield, Maine) scored a career-high 14 points on 5-10 shooting, draining three of seven three-point attempts. Sachs chipped in 10 points on 4-5 shooting off the bench.

The Bobcats shot a season-high 57.1 percent from the floor, making 32 of 56 shots. They hit nine of their 20 three-point attempts. Bowdoin shot 44.6% from the floor and finished 12-26 from three-point range.

Bates out-rebounded the Polar Bears 37-27, with sophomore Stephen Ward (Boston, Mass.) tallying a game and career-high 15 rebounds. 

Simonds paced Bowdoin with 22 points on 9-16 shooting. He survived early foul trouble and kept the Polar Bears close with 17 points in the second half. Manav Randhawa made a game-high five three-pointers in nine attempts on his way to 17 points. Xander Werkman chipped in 11 points and Taiga Kagitomi tallied nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.

The Polar Bears led by as many as five points in the first half. They went up 22-17 on a James McGowan layup with 10:19 left but the Bobcats went on a 13-0 run, taking a 30-22 lead on a Ward lay-up with 5:55 remaining. Bowdoin bounced back and tied the game on a Kagitomi three with 34 seconds to go in the half. Then Baxter gave the Bobcats a 38-35 lead at halftime with a three of his own at the horn.

Bowdoin never led in the second half but did tie the game twice before Sachs hit his big three. The Bobcats were able to keep the Polar Bears at arm's length for the remainder of the contest.

The game did not count in the NESCAC standings. Bates visits Bowdoin for a NESCAC contest on Saturday, Jan. 29. The Bobcats are back in action this Monday when they visit Husson for a 6pm tip.