Men’s basketball opens season with 66-59 win over WNEC
 |
 |
|
Rob Stockwell ’07 |
Pat Halloran ’08 |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Bates College men’s basketball team opened its season Friday night with a 66-59 win over Western New England in the opener of the Williams College Invitational.
Senior forward Rob Stockwell (Temple, N.H.) posted a double-double for the Bobcats, scoring 11 points and securing 12 rebounds along with a team-high four assists.
First-year guard Chris Wilson (Brewer, Maine) netted a team-high 18 points for Bates, hitting 6-of-9 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 on 3-pointers, and was 3-for-3 from the foul line.
Junior guard Pat Halloran (Plymouth, N.H.) added 13 points off the bench for Bates, which will play Southern Vermont College Saturday at 1 p.m.
Sophomore guard Matt Maynard led the Golden Bears, who were 14-13 last season, with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Jim Bayne added 11 points.
Bates outrebounded WNEC by a 34-28 margin.
The Bobcats started the 2006-07 season with Stockwell, senior Zak Ray (Bangor, Maine), senior Sam Taylor (Redwood City, Calif.), junior Bryan Wholey (Marshfield, Mass.) and junior Eric Shone (Portland, Maine) in the lineup. Ray scored nine points and had three steals. Wholey and Taylor added seven and six points, respectively.
A pair of three-pointers by Wilson and Halloran punctuated an early 13-0 run that gave Bates a 21-6 lead in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the game. But the Golden Bears hung tough, as they would all night, and crept back within three points before halftime, as Bayne’s 3-pointer with five seconds on the clock made the score 28-25 at the break.
After Taylor made a bucket to open the second half, WNEC went on a quick 6-0 run to take their first lead since 4-2, as a 3-pointer by Ryan Hernandez made it 31-30 WNEC with 17:30 left in the game.
Wilson and Stockwell hit jumpers to give Bates the lead back for good at 34-31. Soon after, Wilson’s 3-pointer began a 10-2 burst that gave the Bobcats a 44-35 lead with 11:31 left. A three-point play by Malik Champlain at 8:52 closed the gap back to three at 44-41.
Another Wilson three built the Bates lead back to nine, at 52-43, but the Golden Bears again made a comeback run to twice close within two, at 53-51 and 55-53, inside the four-minute mark. But Ray responded with a bucket, and Halloran followed that with a three on a Damon McGinn (Thetford, Vt.) assist with 2:39 left. Ray’s steal resulted in a pair of free throws for Halloran, and the Bobcats were able to breathe with a 60-53 lead heading into the final minute.