Lewiston Times

Bates men's basketball senior guard Steph Baxter became the 35th player in program history to score 1,000 points in his career, but the visiting Bowdoin College Polar Bears played spoiler, defeating the Bobcats 68-63 Friday night at Alumni Gym. 

Baxter (Worcester, Mass.) entered the contest with 999 career points. He hit a fadeaway jumper from 10 feet away with 19:25 left in the first half, putting Bates on the board and Baxter in the history books. Baxter finished the game with a team-high 19 points, giving him 1,018 with three regular season games remaining. 

The Polar Bears (10-11, 2-5 NESCAC) and Bobcats (7-14, 1-6 NESCAC) both struggled from the floor throughout the contest, with Bowdoin shooting 35.6 percent and Bates checking in at 32.9%. Xander Werkman carried Bowdoin, finishing with 23 points on 5-10 shooting and 10 rebounds. He made a remarkable 13 free throws in 14 attempts on the night, nine of them in the second half. 

Trailing 34-31 at halftime, Bates grabbed a 53-52 lead with 4:49 remaining in regulation on a Baxter jumper. Junior Devin Harris (Bear, Del.) sank a pair of free throws with 3:20 remaining and the Bobcats led 57-54.

But then the Polar Bears started feeding Werkman in the post, and the big man kept drawing fouls and sinking free throws. He made six straight free throws, putting Bowdoin up 60-57 before sophomore Jahmir Primer (Hempstead, N.Y.) answered with a layup, trimming the deficit to 60-59 with 1:10 left.

Werkman answered with a short jumper in the paint, and then he split a pair of free throws to put Bowdoin up 63-59 with only 24 seconds on the clock. Teammate Michael Simonds split a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left, extending the lead to five.

But junior Simon McCormick (Whitefield, Maine) gave the fans some hope, converting a four-point play with 11 seconds remaining, making the score 64-63 in favor of the visitors. The Bobcats fouled Simonds, who made both his free throws to put the Polar Bears up three with eight seconds left. Then Bates was unable to execute an inbounds pass, turning the ball over when the ball went out of bounds, and sealing the win for Bowdoin. Fittingly, Werkman made two more free throws to put the game out of reach. 

Simonds joined Werkman in double figures with 13 points, while Bowdoin's Andrew Szwez added five points and a game-high 11 rebounds. 

McCormick finished with 13 points and junior Trace Gotham (Medfield, Mass.) kept the Bobcats in the game in the first half with 13 points on 5-6 shooting before he ran into foul trouble, limiting his minutes down the stretch.

The Bobcats are back in action Saturday when they host rival Colby at 3pm. It's Senior Day, and Bates will honor Baxter and fellow senior Cam Riley (North Myrtle Beach, S.C.) before the contest. 

Original source can be found here