LEWISTON, Maine (courtesy Bates College sports information)-- Brandeis University started the game with an 11-2 run and led wire to wire in an 85-68 defeat of Bates College in non-conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon in Alumni Gymnasium.
Bates drops to 5-7 with its second straight loss, while Brandeis rises to 9-2 with its second consecutive victory, in the Judges' first outing since Dec. 11.
Junior guard Gabriel Moton (St. Petersburg, Fla./St. Petersburg) led the Judges with 21 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, to go with five assists. He currently leads the University Athletic Association with four double-doubles this season. Junior guard Derek Retos (No. Attleboro, Mass./Brimmer and May School) added 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 5-of-5 three-point distance. Junior forward Alex Stoyle (Goffstown, N.H./Tilton School) contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and a game-high six assists in the win.
Bates senior center Ed Bogdanovich (Portland, Maine) led the Bobcats with 18 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. Senior Mark Brust (Duxbury, Mass.) and sophomore Graham Safford (Hampden, Maine) scored 13 points apiece, and sophomore Billy Selmon (Atlanta, Ga.) added 11 points off the bench. Junior Luke Matarazzo (Shelton, Conn.) dished out five assists for Bates, while Brust distributed four more.
Moton scored six points in Brandeis' initial 11-2 run, then followed four consecutive points by Bogdanovich with a 3-pointer assisted by senior center Wouter van Der Eng (Alphen aun der Rijn, Netherlands/Kimball Union Acad, Vt.) for a 14-6 Brandeis lead. Bates turned the ball over twice and missed three straight shots while the Judges increased the lead to 22-6 with a three by junior Ben Bardtoldus (Hillsborough, N.H./Proctor Acad.), a layup by van der Eng and a three-point play by Stoyle. Matarazzo hit a three for Bates, but Retos responded with a quickly released 3-pointer from the corner, assisted by Moton, to make it 25-9 in Brandeis' favor at the 11:26 mark.
The Judges combined a 19-10 rebounding edge in the first half with 62.1 percent field-goal shooting, including 7-of-10 from three-point range, to build a lead as high as 22 points in the opening period, before settling for a 48-33 advantage at the break. Moton had 12 points in the first half, supplemented by 11 from Retos. For Bates, Bogdanovich had 10 points at the break, while Brust made 4-of-5 shots from the floor for eight points.
Brust finished the half with a jumper with five seconds remaining, then opened the second half on a similar note, working one-on-one for a baseline jumper that closed the gap to 48-35. Brandeis junior center Youri Dascy (Fall River, Mass./St. Andres School, R.I.) made three straight buckets, followed by a pair of free throws by Stoyle (who finished 8-for-10 from the line), and Retos made threes at the 16:23 and 15:04 marks of the half for a 62-41 Brandeis lead. Selmon sent Moton to the line for two more free throws to build the lead to a game-high 23 at 64-41 with 14:15 left in the game.
Bates then outscored Brandeis 13-3 over the next five minutes, starting off the run with a corner three by sophomore Adam Philpott (Gloucester, Mass.), followed by trifectas from Selmon, Brust and Safford. Van der Eng followed Safford's three with a layup off a nifty feed by Stoyle, but Bogdanovich cut it to 13 again with a baseline jumper.
Brandeis bumped its lead upward again, though, as Moton drove for two straight layups off of missed threes by the Bobcats. Three free throws by Stoyle, followed by a Stoyle-assisted layup by Bartoldus, put the Judges back on top by 20 at 78-58 with 5:39 left, and Bates could get no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
Brandeis, which concluded non-conference play with a 9-2 record, opens UAA play on Saturday at 3 p.m. against rival New York University, who sits just outside of the d3hoops.com top 25 after having reached as high as No. 21 this season. Bates returns to action on Friday, Jan. 4 at 6pm, opening NESCAC play against second-ranked Middlebury.