Bates men's basketball earns first ranked win since 2020, tops No. 25 Maryville 82-79

Bates men's basketball bounced back in a big way Tuesday afternoon, knocking off No. 25 nationally ranked Maryville College 82-79 to close out play at the Emory Holiday Classic at the Woodruff PE Center. The win marked Bates' first victory over a nationally-ranked opponent since Feb. 15, 2020, when the Bobcats earned a 90-87 buzzer-beater win at No. 10 Middlebury. The garnet and white improves to 10-1 with the triumph a day after having its season-opening winning streak snapped at nine-straight with a Monday loss to the host-Eagles. Bates set the tone early, jumping out to a 40-22 lead after a Brady Coyne three-ball with 2:57 remaining in the first half. Maryville struggled to find rhythm from the field in the initial stanza (7-for-31, 23%), while Bates connected on 13 of 34 attempts from the floor, including seven threes, en route to a 40-28 advantage at intermission. Maryville (9-4) came out of the break firing, scoring 51 second-half points and going up by three (65-62) with 8:19 remaining. Bates responded quickly as the Bobcats ignited a 16-4 surge, capped by an Elliott Cravitz (6'3''-G) bucket, to build a 78-69 cushion at the 2:07 mark. The Scots refused to go away, trimming the margin to three in the final minute (0:36) on a Jackson Garner jumper. Coyne made a pair at the line with eight seconds left to to put the Bobcats up by five (81-76). Javi Roswell then hit a three with three seconds remaining to put Maryville down by a pair (81-79) before Peter Psyhogeos (6'4''-G) sealed it at the stripe with two seconds to go, hitting one of two free-throw attempts, as Bates held on for the three-point win. Babacar Pouye (6'7''-F) finished with 23 points and tied his season and career high with 16 rebounds (including seven on the offensive glass). The junior also added six assists and a pair of rejections. Cravitz added 19 points, knocking down five three-pointers, while Coyne collected 11 points of his own on the day. Three Maryville players recorded double-digit efforts with Chase Morgan (6'6''-F) pacing the Scots with 23 points in 29 minutes. The Bobcats now return to campus to host Colby College this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in what will be the non-conference portion of the annual home-and-home series between Bates and the Mules.

Courtesy of: d3hoops.com