Spellman reaches 1,000 career points

Lewiston, ME (01/06/2020) — Spellman reaches 1,000 career points

Jan 02, 2020

LEWISTON, Maine -- Senior Jeff Spellman reached 1,000 career points and fellow senior Kody Greenhalgh led all scorers with a career-high 23 on seven made three-pointers in the Bates men's basketball team's 98-60 win over the University of New England Thursday night.

Spellman (Boston, Mass.) knocked down a three from the right wing on an assist from sophomore Andrew Snoddy (Stow, Mass.) with 13:35 left in regulation, hitting the 1,000-point mark on the nose. He finished with 16 points on the night, good for 1,003 in his career with 15 regular season games remaining. Spellman is the 34th player in Bates men's basketball history to score at least 1,000 points in his career and the first to reach the plateau since Marcus Delpeche '17, who did it when Spellman was a first-year. Spellman also dished out five assists on Thursday, giving him 199 assists so far during his time as a Bobcat.

"I'm happy to be part of Bates men's basketball history since I've invested so much time into this program," Spellman said. "I'm excited to one day come back here and show my kids my name on the wall so it's a good feeling."

Greenhalgh (West Warwick, R.I.) drained a career-high seven three-pointers, six in the first half, to pace the Bobcats and Bates (6-3) got a big performance from first-year Omar Sarr (Dakar, Senegal) as well. Sarr recorded his second double-double, tallying a career-high 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.

Every player on the Bates roster who was active for Thursday's game scored at least two points in the win. Junior James Mortimer (Sudbury, Mass.) came off the bench and scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting. The Bobcats shot 49.4% from the floor and held UNE (6-5) to 36.5% shooting. The Bobcats hit a season-high 16 three-pointers on 36 attempts while the Nor'easters finished with 10 made three-pointers on 25 attempts.

Siddiq Canty and Blake Smith led UNE with 12 points each. Alex Kravchuk added 11 points and a team-high five rebounds. The Bobcats controlled the glass, out-rebounding the Nor'easters by a count of 50-30.

The Nor'easters took their final lead of the night when Jordan Bagshaw hit a three with 16:08 left in the first half, putting UNE up 11-9. Spellman answered with his lone bucket of the first half, a three with 15:50 left to put Bates ahead for good.

Spellman's three started a 10-0 run, culminating with a layup from first-year Stephon Baxter (Worcester, Mass.) with 10:44 remaining, giving the Bobcats an eight-point lead at 19-11.

The Bobcats lead 31-26 after Jackson McCoy converted a three-point play for UNE with 3:22 left in the half. But Greenhalgh had the answer, hitting his fourth three of the half with 2:42 to go. Then he hit another three with 2:02 remaining and Bates led by 11. Greenhalgh's sixth three with 29 seconds left opened up a 42-28 advantage. And Bates led 42-30 at the break.

The second half became a chance for Bates to give players who normally don't see many minutes some time on the court. With the score at 47-35, the Bobcats went on a 13-0 run, putting the game out of reach at 60-35 on a Spellman three with 13:35 left in regulation.

Down the stretch, first-year Jacob Iwowo (London, England) scored his first collegiate bucket and junior Billy Lahart (Franklin, Mass.) made his first career three-pointer. Sophomore Joe Collins (Cutchogue, N.Y.) made the first two field goals of his career, a pair of threes, giving him six points on the night.

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Senior Jeff Spellman became the 34th player in Bates men's basketball history to score 1,000 points in his career in a 98-60 win over the University of New England on Thursday, January 2, 2020. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)