LEWISTON — Seven hundred basketball fans. Eighteen Bates College men’s players and four coaches.

It would have taken an airport runway decibel meter to settle the issue of which group was louder: The former, upstairs, all Saturday afternoon in toasty Alumni Gym; or the latter, downstairs, in the victorious locker room.

In between, the Bobcats made all the noise from start to finish in a convincing 86-65 victory over rival Bowdoin.

“Every game matters,” Bates coach Jon Furbush said. “But you really circle the Bowdoin games on your schedule.”

This one technically was a non-conference tilt. Bates (5-1) and Bowdoin (3-2) will meet again Jan. 22 in Brunswick as part of the annual New England Small College Athletic Conference round-robin schedule.

Round one was all Bobcats at both ends of the floor.

Bates shot a blistering 37-for-64 (57.8 percent) from the field. The Bobcats ran their offense with such authority that Mark Brust’s three 3-pointers felt as high-percentage as Brian Ellis and John Squires’ dunks.

Brust, a sophomore, finished with 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting, missing only once from 3-point range. Senior tri-captain Ellis scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half to go with eight rebounds and five assists.

Defense didn’t get lost in the frantic pace, either. Bates lured 6-foot-7 junior Will Hanley into two early fouls. And perimeter shooting threat Ryan O’Connell, blanketed all day by Kyle Philbrook of Auburn, never got into a rhythm.

Hanley led the Polar Bears with 20 points and 10 rebounds. O’Connell was 4-for-11 from the field and scrambled to finish with 12 points.

“Whenever he was in the game, I knew I‘d be on him,” Philbrook said. “I think he hit one 3-pointer early, but Coach just told me to keep working hard and good things would happen.”

“I told him to get a good night’s sleep because he was going to be on Ryan O’Connell all game long, and don’t let him catch the ball and shoot,” Furbush said. “That’s probably the best defensive game he’s had in his career.”

Philbrook dished out five assists, made a steal and forced three turnovers in 23 minutes.

Bates used a combination of the smaller but quick 6-4 Alex Gallant and the rangy, 6-6 John Squires to keep Hanley under wraps for much of the day.

Hanley’s spin along the left baseline and finger roll for two brought Bowdoin within three, 22-19, with 8:04 remaining in the first half.

Ryan Weston knocked down his second straight baseline jumper to put Bates back in business. That basket, combined with a steal, drive and 3-point play by Philbrook, triggered a 19-8 run to the horn and a 41-27 lead at the break.

“We have a long way to go offensively,” Bowdoin coach Tim Gilbride said. “Some of that probably is a credit to Bates playing good defense, but there are things we have to do better regardless of who we’re playing.”

Bowdoin enjoyed its best stretch to start the second half. Justin Nowell’s 3-point play, a coast-to-coast drive by Hanley and O’Connell’s open 3-pointer — unanswered in a 93-second span — quickly cut the deficit to six.

Bates worked the ball inside to Gallant (18 points, eight rebounds) to break the spell. Brust then sandwiched a 3-pointer between Randy DeFeo and Hanley’s third fouls.

It was 59-50 with 10 minutes left before Brust and Ellis combined for 15 points in another surge that ripped open a 76-57 edge with 5:48 to play.

At that point, the Bates’ student section gleefully and repeatedly fired up a Fenway Park-inspired, PG-rated chant about its vanquished rival.

“There’s nothing like the crowd at a Bates-Bowdoin game,” Philbrook said.

Bates won its third game in five days and will play three straight on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before a three-week semester break.

The Bobcats are off to their best start since winning 12 in a row out of the gate in 2006-07. Bates had lost three of its last four against Bowdoin.

“It’s a great group to coach,” Furbush said. “The chemistry is strong.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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