Ellis's 23 points lead Bobcats to win at UMass-Boston
January 24, 2008

Bates received 10 points from Scott Place '09 (left) and 23 points from Brian Ellis '11 (right), season highs for both players. (Joe Gromelski photo)
BOSTON -- Bates College outscored UMass-Boston 46-31 in the second half for a 76-62 non-league men's basketball victory Thursday night at Clark Athletic Center.

First-year forward Brian Ellis (Braintree, Mass.) scored a career-high 23 points for Bates (9-5), while senior guard Bryan Wholey (Marshfield, Mass.) added 17 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Sophomore Sean Wirth (Barrington, R.I.) grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds along with six minutes before fouling out in just 13 minutes of action. Junior guard Scott Place (Raynham, Mass.) added a season-high 10 points from off the bench. Sophomore Jimmy O'Keefe (Lexington, Mass.) submitted a 9-point, 9-rebound effort as Bates held a 48-34 advantage on the glass.

Sophomore guard Anthony Matlock and sophomore center Terrell Maddox scored 14 points apiece for the Beacons (1-16), while sophomore center Ernst Jean added 12 points with 8 rebounds. Amigo Paniagua also had 8 boards but was held to 8 points on 3 of 20 shooting from the field.

Trailing the Beacons 37-36 with 17:25 left in regulation, the Bobcats (9-5) embarked on a 16-2 run over a span of only 5 minutes and 8 seconds. The decisive stretch featured scoring contributions from all over the Bates roster: Ellis started the run with a hoop and a pair of free throws, and junior Ben Thayer (Gorham, Maine) capped the spurt with a three-point play off an assist from Wholey. In between the Bobcats received hoops from Wholey, O'Keefe, Place and Wirth.

Bates maintained a double-digit lead for all but 22 seconds the rest of the way to seal away the win. Matlock later canned a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 54-44 for UMB, but Bates went on a 13-6 stretch, led by five points from Place, to take its largest lead of the night at 67-50 with 4:12 remaining in the contest. 

The Bobcats maintained a 71-54 advantage with 2:33 left to go, but the Beacons made one last run, reeling off eight straight points to pull to within 71-62, with 1:22 to play, but it would be as close as they would come, with Bates netting the final five points.

The Bobcats will play at Tufts University in a NESCAC matchup on Saturday at 2 p.m.

BOX SCORE: Bates 76, UMass-Boston 62