LEWISTON — By the time the Bates College men’s basketball team began playing its best Friday night, the Bobcats were already in a sizable hole.
Bates started to play with some urgency late in the game and got the deficit down to 10 but it wasn’t enough to overcome a strong performance by Trinity in a 74-59 win by the Bantams.
“If we can play at that level for 40 minutes, I think we can compete with anybody in Division III but the problem is we’re not consistent enough,” Bates coach Jon Furbush said. “We’ve been consistent enough to win some prior games but that’s a good team and you have to play 40 minutes of good basketball to beat Trinity.”
It was the fourth loss in the last six games for the Bobcats.
Bates (8-5) got 17 from Graham Safford and 14 from Billy Selmon. Malcolm Delpeche added 12 while Mike Boornazian finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Trinity was led by Shay Ajayi with 15 points. Edward Ogundeko had 14 points and 13 rebounds. George Papadeas added 11 while Jaquann Starks chipped in 10.
Trinity had a 34-23 lead at the half and broke things open with an 11-2 run. That pushed the Bantams’ lead up to 51-29. Bates began to play with increased defensive pressure and forced a number of Trinity turnovers to spark a rally. The Bobcats subsequently ran off eight straight to get with in 59-43 with 5:40 left. Then Bates used another surge to cut the lead down to 69-59 with 1:26 remaining.
“I thought when we started to pressure defensively we started to make some plays, but it was too little too late,” Furbush said. “I just wish we could have played a little harder for 40 minutes.”
Trinity opened the lead in the first half with 10 straight points. Bates had a 16-13 lead, but the Bantams erased that with a strong inside game and some outside shooting. A drive by Alexander Conaway tied the game with 8:12 left in the half. Then a basket in the post by Ajayi and a fast break dunk by Ogundeko was followed by a 3 from Ajayi.
Bates got within four on a 3 by Boornazian, but Trinity finished the half strong and were up 34-23 as the Bobcats struggled to keep pace.
“Offensively, we struggled,” Furbush said. “We struggled to execute and get open. Even the open shots we had weren’t hitting. The way I’m going to chalk it up is that it wasn’t our night tonight. Luckily, in the NESCAC, we have another game (Saturday). So that’s entirely out focus. We’ll make some adjustments on what we didn’t do tonight and carry it into (Saturday).”
Bates, which hosts Amherst Saturday at 4 p.m., finished shooting just 35 percent from the floor while Trinity shot 50 percent.
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