BOSTON, Mass. - A heroic second half surge was quashed Monday night as both Bilali Kalilou-Mack and Nathan Firn put up over 20 apiece only to be ousted 69-65 in overtime by the visiting Bates Bobcats. The Lions drop to 1-6 on the season while Bates moves to 3-2 overall.

The first half was a story of shooting percentage. Both the Lions and the Bobcats came out cold in the beginning of the game, and found each other scratching for points 10 minutes into the game with the score at 11-11. After that the Bobcats started to pull ahead.

Controlling the boards and finding easy buckets in the paint, the Bobcats went on a 15-4 run throughout the next 6 minutes, but the Lions surged back as Bilali Kalilou-Mack converted an and-one with two minutes left to cut the Bobcats' lead to single digits, but they quickly countered with a basket of their own to make the lead 28-18 at the end of the first half.

Mack and Drew Venter led the Lions in points with seven each in the first, with Nathan Firn following behind with four. The Bobcats unleashed a more spread out scoring attack with Graham Stafford leading the way with eight, and Reid Christian and Ed Bogdanovich with six each.

The Bobcats shot 54.2 percent from the field compared to the Lions who shot 36.4 percent.

The second half was a completely different story for the Lions. They came out red-hot with a ton of energy led by Mack and Firn, which transferred over to the defensive end. After several turnovers by the Bobcats, Eric Wahl and Eli-Kell Abrams hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 40 apiece and light up the Emerson faithful.

The rest of the half was like a prize fight with the two team taking blow after blow from each other. Every time either team seemed to be making a run, the other would stop the momentum with answers of their own.

With two minutes left, Bogdanovich put home an emphatic dunk to make it 56-53 Bobcats. 

Then with the game at 57-53, Firn got to the line to hit two free throws, followed by a great defensive stop by the Lions, which led to another layup by Firn to send the game into overtime with Firn leading the assault with 23 points.

To begin overtime, Mack banged home a three for the Lions, adding to his game total of 21 points. But the momentum wasn't to be after a steal and a layup by Luke Matarazzo, the Bobcats' Bogdanovich converted an and-one to drop EC into a five point deficit.

The next possession, Bilali Mack got fouled by Bogdanovich, who fouled out, and made one out of two at the line.

With the game at 67-65 in favor of Bates, the Lions' hope hung on getting a defensive stop but the hero of the game ended up being Graham Safford, who hit a game-icing runner with 12 seconds left to put the game out of reach. Safford finished with a team-high 18, followed by Bogdanovich who had 17 and eight rebounds.

Emerson returns to the home hardwood Thursday night as they face-off against GNAC foe, Emmanuel at 5:30 p.m. in Boston at Emerson's Brown-Plofker Gym.

Submitted by Trace Salvato - Emerson Media Relations