BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Aside from a 1-0 Bowdoin lead in the early seconds, along with a brief second-half stalemate, Bates College lead throughout as the Bobcats, behind 20 points from
Babacar Pouye, defeated the host-Polar Bears, 67-58, and completed the season-sweep of its NESCAC rival Friday night in Morrell Gymnasium.
Bates previously upended Bowdoin, 65-51, back on Dec. 3 in Alumni Gym.
Will Logue's free throw at 19:45 provided Bowdoin its lone advantage of the night as
Keenan Sparks' three-pointer put the Bobcats up just over two minutes later at 17:41. After a Pouye three-ball made the score 22-13 Bates at the 6:08 mark, the garnet and white took off on a 10-2 run, capped by a
Chiwer Mayen trademark dunk, to go ahead by a game-high 16 points (32-16) with 2:53 left before intermission.
Coming out of the break ahead by 10 (32-22), the Bobcats' offense continued to sizzle as the road team opened the second stanza with an 8-2 surge to equal its high-water mark with a lead of 40-24 (17:44). The Polar Bears (10-7, 0-3 NESCAC) did all it could to defrost its deficit as Bowdoin rattled off an impressive 19-5 counterpunch to inch to within a pair (45-43) with 11:11 to go in regulation.
A pair of Ray Cuevas free throws brought the home squad all the way back as the Polar Bears evened the score, 52-52, at the 6:05 mark. Cuevas, who paced Bowdoin with 21 points and a perfect 13-for-13 from the charity stripe, connected on a layup to keep his team within one (57-56) with just 1:45 to go.
However, the Bobcats proved to be clutch over the final ticks as a Pouye lay-in, followed by eight consecutive free throw over the final 1:02 by the garnet and white, put the first conference win of the season on ice for Bates.
Pouye, with his sixth-consecutive double-digit scoring effort (and second of 20 or more points this season), hit six-of-11 attempts from the field to go along with a perfect five-for-five shooting from the free-throw line. The sophomore also recorded team-highs with seven rebounds, four assists, and a trifecta of rejections..
Brady Coyne recorded 12 points for the Bobcats while sinking each of his four free-throw attempts.
In fact, the victors were a stellar 13-for-13 as a team in the free-throw column.
Bates (7-7, 1-2 NESCAC) now returns to campus to host Colby Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in Alumni Gym. The Bobcats previously defeated the Mules in Waterville, Maine back on Jan. 5, 74-63, in the non-conference portion of the rivals' home-and-home series.
