LEWISTON — Owen Allen saved his best lacrosse for the second half.

The senior attacker scored three times — including the game-winner — to help lift Babson to a 12-11 win over Bates in overtime at Garcelon Field on Wednesday.

“I don’t know what a heavyweight fight looks like anymore, but I will tell you what, we got up knocked down and we stood back up,” Babson coach Rocky Batty said. “They got knocked down and stood back up. (Bates coach) Pete Lasagna is one of my favorite men in lacrosse. That team is a good team. We are happy we can run with them.”

Allen had the game-winning goal with 65 seconds remaining in the overtime session.

“The entire offensive unit found some opportunities and scored some goals,” Batty said. “Owen did a nice job to take advantage, especially the last one.”

The teams met last season at Babson, where the Bobcats defeated the Beavers 10-9 in overtime.

Babson (2-0) had the rematch circled on its calendar.

“I would say the difference-maker would be how we prepared for this game, the way we prepared all preseason, hitting the weight room, putting reps in all the time,” Babson senior midfielder Thomas Calvert said.

For Bates (0-2), the Bobcats couldn’t convert on extra possessions.

“The story of the game, we did a very nice job, a much better job facing off than we did on Saturday against (Rochester Institute of Technology) and yet we could not turn those 10 more possessions that we had on the faceoff game into one more goal,” Lasagna said.

The fourth quarter started with the Bobcats up 9-8 and it was Allen who tied it up for the Beavers early in the frame.

Chi Chi Price built up Babson’s lead to 11-9 with two goals 2:25 apart.

With under three and half minutes remaining in the game, it was Bates’ Oliver Allen who started the comeback, as he cut the deficit to 11-10. Jack Scribner, a Falmouth native, tied the game to force overtime. Brendan Mullally had the assist on both goals.

Scribner led all scorers with four goals.

“Jack Scribner is in a completely different role, he’s back in his high school role of being a starting attackman,” Lasagna said. “I thought he was our toughest offensive player today and Oliver Allen, a sophomore, is getting a whole a lot more time than he got last year. He scored a huge goal for us.”

Both teams had chances in the final minutes and early overtime to end it.

“I liked the looks we got at the end of regulation a lot more than we got in overtime,” Lasagna said. “…We scrapped and got the ball back a couple different times and I think the last time, we had the ball in our stick and instead of moving it quickly, we kind of froze and the Babson kid checked the ball right out of our stick.”

Curtis Knapton opened the scoring for the Bobcats, but Matthew MacCune notched his first of the game for Babson not even a minute later. Mason O’Hanlon gave the Beavers their first lead of the afternoon midway through the first quarter.

Bates went on its first two-goal run of the day when Scribner found the back of the net later in the frame to tie the game up and 12 seconds later Otis Klingbeil gave Bates a 3-2 lead.

O’Hanlon sparked Babson’s second two-goal run of the day with back-to-back goals to give the Beavers a 4-3 lead after one.

A Scribner goal was followed up by another Klingbeil goal as Bates took a 5-4 lead six minutes into the second quarter.

In a 49-second span, Babson picked up goals from Lee Sipes and MacCune to take a 6-5 lead into halftime.

The third quarter saw Max Kim tie it for Bates before Owen Petersen and Allen give Babson an 8-6 lead. Jack Vinci, Knapton and Scribner gave the Bobcats a 9-8 lead after 45 minutes.

After a 15-9 loss to RIT on Saturday and a loss to Babson, Bates opens NESCAC play Saturday on the road against Wesleyan.