Reilly, Ray, Stockwell earn NESCAC men's basketball honors

Click here to view the NESCAC men’s basketball All-Conference release.

Bates College head coach Joe Reilly was named Coach of the Year and juniors Zak Ray and Rob Stockwell each made the All-NESCAC Second Team for the second year in a row as postseason honors were announced for men’s basketball Wednesday by the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

Reilly, in his ninth season as head coach at Bates, led the Bobcats to the best season in program history, going 20-6 and setting school records for wins in a season, regular-season wins (19) and longest winning streak (16). The Bobcats advanced to the NESCAC Semifinals for the third consecutive year. This followed a 2004-05 campaign in which Bates established a previous program-high 19 wins.

Reilly was named the Maine Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Association and New England Basketball Hall of Fame Coach of the Year following Bates’ 18-8 season in 2003-04.

Ray, a 5-11 point guard from Bangor, Maine, served as co-captain of the Bobcats and was unquestionably the team’s floor leader.

Perhaps the best perimeter defender in the conference, Ray led the NESCAC in steals per game (2.50). He was also fourth in assists (5.38 apg), 12th in free-throw percentage (.750) and 19th in scoring (12.4 ppg). Ray netted a career-high 30 points in Bates’ final game, a loss to Amherst in the NESCAC semifinal.

Stockwell, a 6-5 power forward from Temple, N.H., was one of the premier rebounders and low-post scorers in the conference, and he also made 28 3-pointers over the course of the season.

Stockwell was the eighth-leading scorer in the NESCAC, at 15.8 points per game, and he ranked second in rebounding with 9.8 boards per game. On Jan. 27 at home against Connecticut College, Stockwell became the 26th Bates man to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He has since climbed into 19th place on the all-time Bates scoring list, with 1,115 points.