FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington men’s basketball coaches and players walked away as survivors after squaring off against Bates College on Wednesday.

The contest went down to the final seconds to determine the winner, as the Beavers came out on top with an 87-85 victory over the Bobcats at Dearborn Gymnasium.

UMF’s 10-point lead melted away and down to two points, 84-82, with 22 seconds left in the game. Beavers senior guard Issac Witham was fouled with 15 seconds left. He drained both free throws to get UMF’s lead back up to four.

But 15 seconds is a lot of time, especially when facings Bates’ perimeter shooting.

Kody Greenhalgh (team-high 21 points) nailed a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds on the clock, making it 86-85.

UMF’s Bill Ruby was then fouled and made one of his foul shots. The Bobcats got the ball back and took a shot that didn’t make it to the rim. Jame Mortimer was there for the rebound and the put-back, but his shot didn’t fall through the hoop in time to beat the buzzer.

Ruby said he didn’t have the time to be rattled by all the stress at the end of the game.

“Honestly, I was just on my toes,” Ruby, who scored 18 points, said. “We practice hard all week. We work hard all season, and we are built for these moments, I guess.”

UMF guard Terion Moss was the game’s leading scorer with 25 points, followed by Riley Robinson, who had 24.

“They are a very difficult team to guard, especially because they shoot so deep, and Bates’ Tom Coyne (12 points) got hot at the end,” Meader said. “We hung in there without Jack Kane.”

Kane injured his leg in the first half and left the game.

“Anthony Owen stepped up and did a great job,” Meader said. “It was a great win. We didn’t execute real well going down the end. We missed three foul shots. 

“We just haven’t had that many close games. That was great for us. They played tough and kept it going and hung in there and did a great job.”

The Bobcats’ Stephon Baxter scored 16 points and the team went 17-for-23 at the free-throw line. Bates threw in 16 3-pointers to UMF’s 8.

The Beavers were ahead 40-37 at halftime and then really opened up their lead by the time there was 10 minutes left in the game.

But 10 minutes was a lot time, almost enough for the Bobcats to pull a fast one.

“If we had that urgency from the beginning, we probably wouldn’t be in that position,” Bates coach Jon Furbush said. “It is a lesson for the guys  that you can’t take anybody lightly. That is a really good Farmington team for sure.

“When you get punched in the mouth, it’s good to have a response and fight back. I just think we hit the canvass too many times before we got swinging. “

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