WATERVILLE, Maine -- The Bates men's basketball team grabbed a brief lead midway through the second half, but the Brandeis University Judges pulled away down the stretch, defeating the Bobcats 68-58 Sunday afternoon to wrap up the UAA / NESCAC Challenge. 

Bates (3-5) took a 49-48 lead with 8:46 left in regulation when sophomore Jahmir Primer (Hempstead, N.Y.) sank a pair of free throws. But Ethan Edwards answered with a three-pointer for the Judges (7-1) with 8:25 remaining and Brandeis never trailed again.

Senior Steph Baxter (Worcester, Mass.) stopped a 7-0 run for the Judges with a layup, cutting the Brandeis lead to 55-51 with 5:28 remaining. The Judges answered with a 6-0 run, going ahead by 10 on an Edwards layup with 3:26 left. They held on to the lead from there, despite Bates getting to within six with 1:16 remaining on a Primer layup. The Judges made their free throws in the final few minutes to secure the win. 

Primer paced the Bobcats with 18 points on 7-13 shooting, knocking down 2-5 from outside and grabbing four rebounds. Baxter added 13 points, six rebounds, a team-high four assists, and two steals. 

Toby Harris led the way for Brandeis, recording a double-double with 24 points on 9-17 shooting and 13 rebounds. Edwards finished with 20 points on 6-11 shooting and five assists. Quron Zene chipped in 13 points on 5-10 shooting.

The Bobcats shot 35.7 percent from the floor while the Judges finished at 43.1%. Brandeis hit 9-25 (36%) from three-point range, with Bates shooting 6-21 (28.6%) from downtown. 

The UAA went 6-2 overall against the NESCAC in the challenge. 

Bates is back in action this Friday when the Bobcats head to Brunswick to take on Bowdoin at 7pm in a non-conference game.