LEWISTON – This wasn’t a playoff game, there were no overtime heroics, and there was no marriage proposal to his sweetheart afterward, but Thursday night’s men’s basketball game felt that good to Zak Ray.

The former star basketball player at Bangor and Winslow high schools scored the 1,000th point of his collegiate career, led Bates College in both points and assists, and led the Bobcats to an impressive 70-55 victory over Husson College of Bangor at Alumni Gymnasium.

It was a nonconference win for the 13-2 Bobcats (0-2 in New England Small College Athletic Conference play), but it was a big one for Ray and his teammates.

“This win is really important for three reasons,” said Ray, who scored 13 of his 18 total points in the second half, dished out a game-high eight assists, and had a game-high four steals as well. “One is Husson’s a very good team with a great record and that helps us in our quality win index. They’ll probably be a tournament team if they win their conference, so a win over a tourney team is big for us.

“Two, after losing two tough games last weekend, this really gets us back on track, and three, it’s really good to get some confidence back because confidence plays a big part in this game.”

There was no shortage of that among the Bobcats, who used stifling, man-to-man defensive pressure and even utilized a little half-court trapping to almost totally smother Husson’s transition game and dictate the game’s offensive tempo.

“I think we did a really good job crowding them, getting a hand up, and not giving them space for 3’s,” said Bates coach Joe Reilly. “They’re a great 3-point shooting team and they didn’t shoot well from there, which I’m hoping our defense had a lot to do with.”

Husson coach Warren Caruso thinks it did. His Eagles, now 11-5 overall, followed up a 25 percent shooting effort from outside the arc in the first half with a 0-percent exhibition (0-for-7) in the second for 13.3 percent for the game. Overall, Husson shot 36.4 percent from the field to Bates’ 48.2.

“I thought for the most part, they kept a lot of stuff out of the middle defensively,” said Caruso. “We got the ball inside to where we wanted it, but we didn’t finish as well as we like, and our secondary options, playing off the post, weren’t good. We were settling for some bad shots.”

Bates wasn’t. Although Husson won the battle of the boards with 36 rebounds to Bates’ 30, the Bobcats feasted in the paint with 38 points to Husson’s 22.

Bates also made better use of turnovers with 24 points off them compared to Husson’s nine, and showed off better depth with a 15-4 advantage in points off the bench.

The Eagles closed within four points via a 7-0 run with 13:52 left in the game, but Bates responded by scoring seven of the next nine and then really put things on ice with a 12-1 run that ended with 3:14 left and the Bobcats leading 67-49.

“We clawed back into it, but they kind of took control after and we didn’t really have an answer for it,” said Caruso. “I thought [junior guard Bryan] Wholey was the x-factor. He made a big difference in the game during a critical stretch.”

Wholey scored five straight points during the 12-1 run en route to 11 total.

Rob Stockwell, an All-American candidate and Bates’ leading scorer and rebounder, lit Husson up for 12 points in the first half, but finished with 14 to go with seven rebounds.

“I think one of our main strengths this year opposed to previous years is our depth,” Stockwell said. “We played 11 guys in the first half and everybody who comes in contributes.”

Despite being saddled with foul trouble all through the second half, freshman center Martin Cleveland of Portland led Husson with 22 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Tyler Muzzy, who did foul out with 3:47 left, chipped in with 11 points and five boards.

BOBCATS 70, EAGLES 55

Husson (11-5) Bates (13-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bradford 1 5 2 2 5 Wilson 2 6 5

Kissinger 2 4 1 2 6 Ray 6 12 18

Muzzy 4 9 3 6 11 Wholey 4 10 11

Cleveland 6 13 10 13 22 Taylor 3 4 7

Harvey 1 6 5 5 7 Stockwell 6 12 1 2 14

Figueron 1 2 0 0 2 Lattimer 0 0

Perras 0 1 0 0 0 Curley 0 0 0

Hodges 0 0 0 0 0 Shone 0 0 0

Meehan 0 2 0 0 0 Creahan 0 0 0

Jardine 0 0 0 0 0 McGinn 3 4 7

MacKenise 1 2 0 0 2 Halloran 0 0

Puls 0 0 0 0 0 Hatch 0 0 0 0

Jennings 0 0 0 0 0 Dunne 0 0 0

Henry 0 0 0 0 0 Thayer 1 1 3

O’Keefe 2 3 1 5

Totals 16 44 21 28 55 Totals 27 56 10 19 70

Husson 30 55

Bates 37 70

3-pt. goals – Husson (2-15): Kissinger 1-3, Bradford 1-4, Muzzy 0-1, Figueroa 0-1, Meehan 0-2, Harvey 0-4; Bates (6-17): Ray 4-7, Stockwell 1-1, Wilson 1-3, McGinn 0-1, Halloran 0-2, Wholey 0-3

Attendance: 405