LEWISTON – Bates College senior Zak Ray scored 18 points, including the 1,000th of his career, dished out eight assists and made four steals to lead the Bobcats to a 70-55 non-league victory over Husson College Thursday night.

Bates raises its record to 13-2 this season, while Husson falls to 11-5.

Ray needed 13 to reach the plateau, and he did it with a 3-pointer, assisted by junior Pat Halloran, with 8:31 left in the game, extending Bates’ lead from 50-44 to 53-44. Ray became the 27th Bates man to reach the plateau.

Husson first-year center Martin Cleveland scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Senior Tyler Muzzy added 11 for the Eagles, who outrebounded the Bobcats by a 36-30 margin.

Bates senior Rob Stockwell had 14 points and seven rebounds, and junior Bryan Wholey added 11 points.

The lead changed hands four times in the first half, and Husson had thegame tied at 23 on a pair of free throws by first-year Brock Bradford. But Bates answered with a layup by senior Sam Taylor, assisted by Ray, to take the lead for good.

The Bobcats outscored the Eagles 8-3 to close out the half for a 37-30 advantage at the break.

Ray hit a free throw and the three that eclipsed the 1,000-point mark to start an 18-5 run from the 8:53 mark to the 3:15 mark of the second half, putting the game out of reach for Husson. Ray scored seven points in the run and Wholey accounted for five.

Ray, a two-time All-NESCAC guard and a preseason Honorable Mention All-America this year, is already Bates’ all-time steals leader and is now eight assists away from tying the school career mark of 498, held by Herb Taylor.

Maine 69, Vermont 54

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Kevin Reed scored 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Maine to a 69-64 win over Vermont Thursday night.

Maine trailed, 41-36 at halftime, but held Vermont to just 27 percent shooting from the floor in the second half to pull off the comeback.

Junior Bernal had 16 points and five assists for the Black Bears (8-11), while Chris Bruff added 10 points and eight boards. Mike Trimboli led the Catamounts (12-6) with 17 points and Chris Holm added 11 points and 13 rebounds.

NEC 80, UNE 65

HENNIKER, NH – NEC’s Ryan Jaziri finished with a team-high 24 points lifting the Pilgrims past the visiting University of New England Nor’easters 80-65.

The Nor’easters would score the first five points of the game and hold onto the lead throughout the opening ten minutes of play. New England College would use an 8-0 run with eight minutes remaining in the half to take their first lead of the game and would head into halftime up 43-34. The Pilgrims would continue to have the hot hand in the second half increasing their lead to 20 points with just 13 minutes remaining in the game. UNE (2-12) wouldn’t let down going on an 11-1 cutting the Pilgrim lead to just 10 points with 5:21 on the clock.

The Pilgrims would prove too tough hitting 10-for-10 from the foul line in the final two minutes to capture the 80-65 victory.

Leading the way for New England College (7-6) was Ryan Jaziri who finished with a game-high 24 points shooting and impressive 11-for-21 from the field.

NEC’s Tyler Evans chipped in 18 points and Antoine Sylvia finished with a game-high 16 rebounds and 12 points. Isaac Stickney led UNE with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

UNE’s Mike Floyd scored 15 points and Nick Farynaz chipped in 11 points for the Nor’easters.

UMA 72, SMCC 68

SOUTH PORTLAND – Jonathan Hill scored 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead University of Maine-Augusta to a 72-68 upset win over Southern Maine Community College in a Yankee Small College Conference game Thursday night.

Deon Cherrs added 13 points and 10 rebounds for UMA (5-6), while Tyler Norris added 10 points.

Chris Banks led SMCC (11-4) with 17 points, including five 3-pointers.

Mike Worcester added 16 points. while James Liebowitz chipped in with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

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