LEWISTON – University of New England made more than it missed — often a recipe for success in basketball — to down host Bates 101-89 in a non-conference men’s basketball tilt Sunday at Alumni Gymnasium.
The Nor’easters’ (5-2) hot shooting started early, as they made five of their first nine shots to take a 17-11 lead 7:42 into the game. The Bobcats (2-2) countered that with a 7-0 run that gave Bates an 18-17 advantage and started a stretch of back-and-forth scoring.
UNE finished the half as well as it started, scoring 10 of the final 14 points of the period to take a 43-37 lead into the break. The Nor’easters shot 51.9 percent (14 for 27) in the first half, led by CJ Autry’s 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Drew Coveney and Devin Thompson added nine first-half points each on better than 50-percent shooting.
“We knew coming into the game that they’ve been shooting the ball extremely well,” Bates head coach Jon Furbush said of UNE. “They certainly made some really tough shots late in the shot clock, but I also think there was some shots they made with space and comfort.”
Mike Boornazian was the leading scorer for Bates in the first half, totaling nine for the period. That came on 2-for-6 shooting, however, as the Bobcats made just as many shots as UNE, but on four shots more.
“He feels like he has to do a lot for us to have success,” Furbush said of Boornazian. “They definitely pressure him well.”
UNE pushed its lead to double digits early in the second half, punctuated by Sam Thomas’ dunk on the Nor’easters’ second possession. That gave UNE a 47-37 lead, which grew to 53-41 on a Coveney 3-pointer three minutes in.
“Typically he doesn’t go up and dunk the basketball in those plays,” UNE head coach Ed Silva said of the 6-foot-10 Thomas. “It really hyped us up that he actually recognized and did that. And I think it did give us a little bit of a jolt.”
Much like they did in the first half, the Bobcats clawed their way back midway through the second. Former Edward Little standout Quin Leary twice made 3-pointers to bring Bates within one point. He hit his first triple of the game with just under 11:30 left to make it 60-59, then drilled another to make it 65-64 with 9:15 remaining.
“He’s playing with poise, he’s making shots,” Furbush said of Leary.
Bates was able to come all the way back with a layup from Boornazian with 8:41 to play, knotting the game at 66-66, only for Matt Lettick to put the Nor’easters back in front 14 seconds later on a layup of his own.
The game began to unravel for Bates less than a minute later, as Boornazian missed a pair of shots before getting called for a foul, then a technical foul. UNE used four made free throws to push its lead to 74-66. A Gavin Dibble layup the next time down pushed the Nor’easters lead back to 10 points.
“I thought we did a good job of weathering that storm,” Silva said. “The energy was going, this gym was unbelievable, the fans were unbelievable. It was really a tell-tale moment for our team to weather that.”
UNE kept its distance the rest of the way, never letting the deficit get less than six points. The Nor’easters shot an absurd 63.8 percent from the field, making 30 of 47 attempts, including 10 of 14 3-pointers. They added 31 made free throws on 40 attempts, with 23 successful makes in the second half.
Bates attempted 20 more shots than UNE, but made three less to finish with a 40.3 percent shooting percentage for the game.
“I think we were just trading baskets,” Furbush said. “And I think I’ve established a culture where we rely on defense, and that has not been the case this year.”
Thompson led all scorers with 21 points on 5-for-6 shooting and 10 of 12 free throws made. Coveney and Autry each finished with 18.
Malcolm Delpeche had a team-high 18 for Bates, while Justin Zukowski added 12 of his 15 in the second half, and Boornazian finished with 14 on 4-of-17 shooting.
Leary had a career-high 10 points, making all four of his attempts.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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