With 4:34 remaining in the first half of the men’s basketball game vs. Bowdoin on Jan. 23, 2009, Neil Creahan ’10 of Hingham, Mass., drives between Bowdoin defenders and dishes to Jimmy O’Keefe ’10 (not pictured) of Lexington, Mass., for the layup. “The play was for Neil to go one-on-one, to let him operate,” explains head coach Jon Furbush ’05. Creahan picks up the story: “I beat my man, then was met by the second line of defense. With two guys on me, I found O’Keefe on the basket.” The Bobcats won, 57–54, giving Furbush his initial NESCAC coaching victory before a rambunctious home crowd in Alumni Gym.

Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen

Women’s basketball teammates converge after the final buzzer reveals the Bobcats as 73-71 winners over rival Colby in a fiercely contested Jan. 13 Alumni gymnasium contest.

The team finished the regular season with a 62-51 loss at No. 18 nationally ranked Tufts University on Feb. 14 at Cousens Gymnasium.The Bobcats finish 16-8 overall and 5-4 in the conference, and earn the fourth seed in next weekend’s NESCAC Championship. Bates will host fifth-seeded Trinity College (16-7, 4-5 NESCAC) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21, in the tournament quarterfinals.

Read the latest news on the Bates Women’s Basketball team.

Neil Creahan ’10 drives and dishes to Jimmy O’Keefe for a layup in the first half of the men’s basketball team’s 57-54 NESCAC victory over Bowdoin College on Jan. 23. After defeating NESCAC rival Tufts 77-65 on Feb. 14, Bates finishes the regular season at 13-11 overall and 4-5 in conference play. The Bobcats have earned the sixth seed in the NESCAC Championship and will play at No. 3 seed Williams (16-7, 6-2) Saturday, Feb. 21, at 3 p.m. in the conference playoff quarterfinals.

Read the latest news on the Bates Men’s basketball team.

Bates junior Chris Wilson (Brewer, Maine) averaged 19.5 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game in leading Bates to a 54-53 win over Trinity and a narrow 71-66 loss to nationally ranked Amherst. He shot 13-for-25 from the field (.520) on the week, including 6-of-8 (.750) from behind the three-point arc.

In the Amherst game, Wilson scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-5 on threes, to go with 7 assists and 4 rebounds. He followed that up with 15 points and 4 rebounds in the crucial victory over Trinity. He was honored as Player of the Week for his efforts by the Maine Men’s Basketball Coaches and Writers Association.

Wilson averages a team-high 12.0 points per game and leads the NESCAC in free throw shooting (.903) while ranking fourth in assists per game (4.45 apg). In conference games he is ranked 10th in the NESCAC in scoring (13.8 ppg), second in assists (4.38 apg) and 10th in three-point accuracy (.455).

Wilson and the Bobcats (12-10, 3-5 NESCAC) play their final non-conference game on Thursday night at Gordon College, then wrap up the regular season with a home date against Tufts on Saturday at 3 p.m., where they’ll look to improve their chances for a spot in the eight-team field of the NESCAC Championships. Bates still has an outside chance of landing the fourth seed and a home playoff game.

Sean Wirth moved into the starting lineup for the Bates men’s basketball team on Dec. 6 at Bowdoin, scoring 7 points to go with 8 rebounds. Since then, the 6-foot-7 forward/center from Barrington, R.I., has been the Bobcats’ primary force under the boards, averaging 9.0 points and 8.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game while shooting an impressive 60 percent from the field.

Wirth earned the first accolades of his Bates career last weekend as he played a key role in the Bobcats claiming the title at the Springfield College Naismith Classic.  Wirth’s 19 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and .545 field goal percentage in a mere 32 minutes of floor time led to a nod on the all-tournament team, along with tournament MVP and teammate Chris Wilson (Brewer, Maine).

On the season, Wirth, who is also a standout tight end on the football team, leads the 6-4 Bobcats in rebounding (6.3 rpg), field goal percentage (.600) and blocked shots (9), while contributing 6.9 points per game.

Lauren Yanofsky submitted her finest game of her Bates career in Saturday’s win over Norwich University in the Williams Winter Classic, chalking up season-high totals of 18 points and 12 rebounds for her second career double-double. She followed that with a 14-point, 8-rebound, 4-steal effort in the tournament championship game against Williams.

In Bates’ past six games, the 6-foot-0 Yanofsky (Belmont, Mass.) has served as an excellent complement to all-conference senior forward Val Beckwith (Woburn, Mass.) – in that span she has scored in double figures five times, averaging 13.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocked shots while shooting .530 from the floor.

As Bates enters the heaviest part of its schedule, with 8 games in the next two weeks, the Bobcats will look for continued inspired play from Yanofsky.

Chris Wilson '10

In last Tuesday’s annual matchup against Southern Maine, the Bates men’s basketball team trailed their in-state rivals at halftime by a 30-24 score. But junior co-captain Chris Wilson took care of chopping that lead down right away to start the second half, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers that sandwiched a pair of USM foul shots, cutting the deficit to 32-30 in the first 84 seconds of the period. Wilson’s threes were the start of a 17-2 run for Bates that put the Huskies away. [More...] 

Val Beckwith '09

Senior co-captain Val Beckwith has led the Bates women’s basketball team to a 2-1 start, leading the team in scoring in all three of its games thus far. That includes an efficient 14-point effort in last week’s loss to Southern Maine, in which the two-time All-NESCAC forward hit 6 of 9 shots from the field while also collected three steals and three rebounds. [More...] 

Jonathan R. Furbush, assistant men’s basketball coach at Springfield College and former assistant coach and player at Bates College, has been named the new men’s basketball coach at Bates.

Furbush, a 2005 Bates graduate and native of South Portland, Maine, becomes the college’s 21st head men’s basketball coach. He replaces Joe Reilly, who stepped down in April to take the head coaching position at Wesleyan University.

In announcing the appointment Tuesday, Bates Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh praised Furbush’s “passionate commitment to the college and to the basketball program,” adding that “Jon separated himself from an extremely strong candidate pool as the best fit to be the next men’s basketball coach at Bates.”

McHugh noted that “the foundation that he received as a player and coach at Bates, combined with his energy and enthusiasm, an ability to lead and inspire, his work ethic, and his notable talent for recruiting made him the obvious choice of the search committee.

“We are thrilled that Jon will be taking over the reins of an established program and look forward to him leading the Bobcats to even greater success.”

Furbush’s appointment, McHugh said, follows a “tradition of success that Bates basketball has experienced with the appointment of young head coaches.” Since 1987, Bates basketball has thrice been led by head coaches in their 20s. Furbush, 25, succeeds Reilly, who was 28 when appointed in 1997. Rick Boyages, who went on to become a Division I head coach, was 24 when he began his successful four-year run as head coach in 1987.

Furbush was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Springfield in 2007–08 while pursuing a master’s degree in athletic administration. He held the same position for two seasons at Bates after graduating with a degree in American cultural studies.

“This is a great opportunity to get back in touch with my Maine roots,” Furbush said. “Coming back to Bates is like a dream — getting to coach at my favorite school.”

The Bates men’s basketball program has posted a winning record for eight straight years, the longest such streak in program history. Since 2003–04, the team has posted a 92-37 record (.713 winning percentage) and twice set records for wins in a season (19 in 2004–05 and 20 in 2005–06).

“What Joe Reilly has done is tremendous,” Furbush said. “I want to build on the culture he created and add a few of my own contributions. I want to use basketball as an extension of the classroom, preparing our student-athletes for the next step in life. The players in my program will all be respectful and valuable members of the Bates community and will take pride in striving towards excellence on the court and in the classroom.”

– Office of Communications and Media Relations