WORCESTER, Mass. -- The 2023-24 Bates College men's basketball season is officially underway as the Bobcats kicked off the campaign Saturday afternoon with a non-conference visit to Clark University. It would be the host-Cougars that would pull away in the second half as the home team locked down an 89-70 victory over the garnet and white.
The Bobcats opened the contest on a positive note, garnering an early 17-10 advantage, courtesy of a jumper in the paint from
Marc Begin IIÂ with 12:38 left in the first half. Clark countered with a 21-9 spurt to go ahead by five, 31-26, with 2:41 remaining before the break.
After a pair of subsequent stalemates, concluding with a 32-all tie with 1:38 to go, Clark closed the first half by outscoring Bates 7-3 over the final seconds, taking a 39-35 surplus into the locker room.
The Cougars (1-0) would never trail in the second stanza, opening the half with a 20-12 run to go ahead by a score of 59-47 at the 12:01 mark. Bates battled back to cut its deficit to four after a fast-break layup from
Simon McCormick made the score 59-55 Clark with 10:35 left in regulation.
Unfortunately for Bates, that would be as close as the road team could trim the Clark lead as the Cougars out-paced its guest by a margin of 30-15 the rest of the way to secure the opening day triumph.
The Cougars shot a cool 52.5% from the floor in the win, knocking down 31 of 59 attempts. Bates hit on 40.3% of its efforts (27-for-67).
Kekoa McArdle (Pittsfield, Mass.) authored a double-double in the victory for Clark as the junior supplied 24 points and 16 rebounds for the Cougars. Isaiah Taylor (Jr.-Methuen, Mass.) and Bruce Saintilus (Jr.-Plainville, Mass.) followed with 19 and 14 points, respectively.
As the for the Bobcats, Begin II shined in his collegiate debut as the first-year guard paced Bates with a team-best 12 points in 27 minutes off the bench. The aforementioned McCormick followed with 11 points in 33 minutes of action.
The Bobcats (0-1) return to play Wednesday with a non-conference tilt vs. rival Bowdoin College in Alumni Gym. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Â
