LEWISTON – The Bates College basketball teams are acutely aware of the perception this weekend that their respective van rides to Massachusetts are the equivalent of sacrificial lambs being led to the slaughter.

They understand it. But that doesn’t mean the Bobcats agree with it.

“I’ve told them, ‘Not even your parents would bet money on you.’ Why would they? Nobody thinks we’re going to go down there and win except us,” said Bates women’s coach Jim Murphy, whose team will travel to Amherst College for Saturday’s New England Small College Athletic Conference semifinals.

Amherst (25-0) is the consensus No. 1 team in NCAA Division III.

The men’s semifinal opponent, Williams (24-1), was one point away from the top spot in the most recent national poll. And the Ephs won the lone regular-season contest against Bates by 30 points.

“I think we’re going to go down there and win,” said Bates coach Jon Furbush. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Both teams boast reasons for such optimism, having played their best basketball of the season over the last three weeks.

Bates’ men (14-11) have won seven of their last eight games, including five straight NESCAC contests, since back-to-back overtime losses to Bowdoin and Colby in late January.

Eleven different players scored in Bates’ 80-64 quarterfinal win over Bowdoin last weekend, avenging a pair of regular-season defeats.

“We’re playing our best ball at the right time,” said Furbush, who cited come-from-behind wins over the University of Maine at Farmington and Connecticut College.

The victory at UMF was a mid-week, non-conference stop after the heartbreaking CBB rivalry setbacks.

Bates remained 0-4 in the league and didn’t see much daylight after falling in a 15-point hole early in the second half against the Camels.

“We came back and won, and that basically turned around our season,” Furbush said. “It’s been such an up-and-down year with people being hurt and different situations, but we’ve been getting consistently better.”

At times, Furbush may have three sophomores and two freshmen on the floor. His team also has three football players, none of whom were able to practice until days before the first game Nov. 20.

Freshman Mark Brust’s emergence at point guard has fueled the late-season run. Brust led the Bobcats with 14 points and five assists versus Bowdoin.

Junior Brian Ellis averages 15 points and seven rebounds per game for the Bobcats. The Bangor tandem of Alex Gallant and Ryan Weston and Auburn’s Kyle Philbrook also have made significant contributions.

Williams leads the league in scoring at nearly 87 points per game and hits at a stunning 46 percent clip from 3-point range.

“When we played them in early January, we were down 10 at the half,  but their starters were 13-for-17 from ‘3’ against us,” Furbush said. “We’ve gotten so much better. We’ve dissected what they do offensively. We really have a swagger to us right now.”

The women have won five of six and improved to 14-11 after their own 0-4 start in league play.

Bates’ weekend sweep of Connecticut College and Wesleyan triggered the turnaround. After a gallant effort in a 72-66 loss to Amherst at home, the Bobcats beat nationally ranked Tufts by 16 at home before a seven-point win at Williams in the NESCAC quarterfinals.

“I wish I could tell you what the reason is, or why we weren’t doing it Nov. 1,” Murphy said of the turnaround. “All of a sudden we started playing better defensively and started rebounding better. And one thing we do very well is run, so those things are giving us some good looks at the basket on our fast break.”

Lauren Yanofsky (15.2 points, 6.5 rebounds per game) and Kellie Goodridge (6.8 points, 4.2 assists) are the lone seniors. Eight Bobcats have averaged at least four points per contest.

Amherst nearly let a double-digit lead slip away in the previous meeting. Bates forced 25 turnovers on its home court but committed 30.

“We have the confidence of knowing that we can play with them. It was 70-66 and we had a 3-pointer go in-and-out,” Murphy said. “We didn’t make very good decisions with the basketball. You can’t give a team like that 30 possessions and expect to win.”

Defending champion Middlebury faces Colby in the other men’s semifinal.

If the women pull off the shocker, they would stick around to play a familiar foe on Sunday. Colby squares off with Bowdoin in the other ladies’ matchup.

“It’s kind of the State of Maine Invitational at Amherst,” Murphy said.

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