BENNINGTON, Vt. — After leading for most of the game, Southern Vermont College saw the visiting Bates College Bobcats inch back and take a late lead, carrying it to a 72-67 win at the Mountaineer Athletic Center Saturday afternoon in non-conference men's basketball action.
Bates improves its season record to 8-2 after losing its last two games in the Emory College Tournament last week. The loss ends SVC's five-game winning streak and drops the Mountaineers to 7-3 on the season.
The Bobcats now own a 2-0 all-time series advantage, winning the only previous matchup between the two schools 77-51 in the 2006-07 season.
Southern Vermont junior DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Connecticut) led all players with 18 points in 20 minutes off the bench while classmate William Bromirski (Cambridge, New York) followed with 14 on a 4-7 clip from three-point distance. Fellow junior Casey Hall (Albany, New York) added 10 points, and junior captain Antoine White (Bethesda, Maryland) had nine points and six assists in the effort.
Bobcat senior captain Graham Safford (Hampden, Maine) registered 14 points, bringing his collegiate career total to 996; he will have a chance to become the 31st Bates player to reach the 1,000 point milestone on his home court in the Bobcats' next contest. Safford also tied White's game-best of six assists and grabbed four rebounds. BC sophomore Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, Delaware) followed with a team-best 15 points to go with his game-high 15 rebounds, and senior captain Billy Selmon (Atlanta, Georgia) chipped in with 14 points.
Bates was able to limit its turnover total to just 10 on the afternoon, seeing SVC turn those into 13 points; the Bobcats scored 20 points on the 13 Mountaineer turnovers while the teams were nearly even on points in the paint, SVC holding a slight 28-24 edge.
Southern Vermont's defense held the BC field goal percentage to 39.3 (24-61), and the Mountaineers finished with a 46.8 percent clip from the floor (22-47). One of the biggest differences was the 19-8 advantage that Bates held on offensive rebounds, resulting in a 21-8 advantage in second-chance points.
A pair of early free throws gave the Bobcats a 2-0 advantage, one that was quickly erased on a White layup; Bates would never lead again until there was 3:09 to play in the second half. The teams traded baskets before Bromirski knocked down his third trey of the opening period to give SVC a 15-10 lead with 13:31 left in the first half. Safford scored seven-straight Bobcat points, capped by a three, to make it 19-17, but Southern Vermont continued to make its shots to preserve the lead. The hosts were able to maintain their advantage through the remainder of the half, going up by as many as eight while BC stayed within striking distance. A final Delpeche free throw cut it to 40-33 in favor of SVC heading into the locker room.
The Mountaineers came out of the break and scored the first four points to take their biggest lead of the day at 44-33. That cushion stood through the first eight minutes of the second half before Bates went on a quick 6-0 run to close the gap to 54-50. Southern Vermont hit enough of its free throws to stay ahead, but Bates continued to make shots down the stretch to creep closer. Finally, with 3:09 to go, Safford took a pass from junior Mike Boornazian (Portland, Connecticut) and hit a three to put his team up 64-63.
Hall responded right away on the other end of the floor with a layup to regain the upper hand, but a Selmon three-pointer gave the Bobcats a lead they would not relinquish. With time ticking away, Southern Vermont was forced to foul and send Bates players to the charity stripe with the hopes of them missing at the line. BC hit five of its six free throws in the final 27 seconds, however, to seal the 72-67 victory.
The Mountaineers now turn to the remainder of their New England Collegiate Conference (1-0) schedule, hosting Lesley University on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. start. Bates next hosts Brandeis University on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in a non-conference tilt.