LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with No. 9 nationally ranked Trinity for 35 minutes, but the Bantams used an impressive final five minutes to run away with an 87-70 win over the Bobcats Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium. 

First-year Marc Begin II (Jacksonville, Fla.) returned from missing a few games due to injury and paced the Bobcats (3-20, 0-9 NESCAC) with 19 points on 8-17 shooting. His transition layup keyed by an emphatic block by senior Devin Harris (Bear, Del.) with 5:44 remaining in regulation put Bates ahead 66-63. 

But that's when Ben Callahan-Gold took over for the Bantams (22-1, 8-1 NESCAC), drilling a three with 5:18 left to tie the game at 66. Begin II split a pair of free throws and the Bobcats led by one. Then Callahan-Gold struck again, nailing another three to put Trinity up 69-67 with 4:54 remaining, and the Bantams never trailed again. The Bobcats scored just three points down the stretch and Trinity got 14 of their final 18 points at the free throw line. The Bantams hit 15-20 from the line on the game while Bates finished 9-18 from the stripe.

Callahan-Gold led all scorers with 26 points on 9-19 shooting. He hit 8-15 from three-point range, more threes than the Bobcats made as a team, as Bates finished 7-30 from outside

Jarrel Okorougo played a key role down the stretch for Trinity, making 7-9 free throws and finishing with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Henry Vetter and Will Dorion finished with 12 and 10 points respectively for the visitors.

Sophomore Brady Coyne (Falmouth, Maine) had another strong game for Bates, tallying 16 points on 6-12 shooting, finishing 4-10 from outside the arc. Fellow sophomore Elliott Cravitz (Denver, Colo.) finished with 10 points and senior captain Simon McCormick (Whitefield, Maine) did all he could despite the Trinity defense keying on him, grabbing a team-high nine rebounds, dishing out a team-high five assists, and recording two steals. Harris finished with five points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots.

Trinity sprinted out to an 11-point lead in the first half, only for Bates to rally and cut the deficit to three at 30-27 by halftime.

In the second half, the Bobcats took the lead within the first minute on a three-pointer from McCormick, but could never get ahead by more than three points, as the Bantams matched them bucket-for-bucket.

Bates men's basketball is back in action Saturday at 2pm when they host Wesleyan for Senior Day at Alumni Gym.