BRUNSWICK

On paper the Bowdoin College men’s basketball team came into the New England Small College Athletic Conference quarterfinal game as the No. 2 seed, facing No. 7 Williams.

However, as the results have shown, seeding in the NESCAC means very little when it comes to playoffs. The history between the two teams has been one for the books, with the Ephs (14-10) leading the Polar Bears 42-15 before this past Saturday’s contest, with this year’s regular-season game going to the Polar Bears (18-7), 67- 60.

The same tight style of play between the two continued at Bowdoin’s Morrell Gymnasium, and it was the Polar Bears that came out with the victory once again, 87-74 to advance to the NESCAC semifinals against No. 5 Amherst, which beat No. 4 Tufts, 92-66.

Junior Lucas Hausman had yet another career night, dropping 37 points, just a week after tying a school record of 44 points in a single game recently.

“They’re a great shooting team, that kid (Hayden) Rooke-Ley can really knock it down,” Bowdoin’s head coach Tim Gilbride said of Williams after the game. “I thought we gave them too many open looks in the first half. For their execution they did a great job. In the second half I thought we were a lot more sound and didn’t really give those looks. Our team defense was just that much better and we fed off of that.”

“(Williams) I think is always one of the best teams every year,” senior center John Swords said. “It was kind of a script that writes itself, we wanted to win, we were inspired, we had all of this support (in the crowd) which is great to see. The place was pretty filled and it gets exciting when it’s filled.

“The first half was basically get the ball to me and play a little more subtle game and in the second half, Lucas was just doing phenomenally. In the end, sorry for the cliche, but it did come down to defense this time.”

Bowdoin had the momentum going for it, winning the last two regular-season conference contests against Bates and Tufts to earn that No. 2 seed, but Williams made the Polar Bears work for it, ending the first half with the Ephs leading, 44-37.

The Ephs were known for their outside shooting ability coming into the game and it proved once again, as they went on to go 9-for-17 from beyond the arc, making up for 63 percent of Williams’ first-half shooting.

The biggest difference for Williams hit at the 11:31 mark when Rooke-Ley drained both free throws. Swords made a lay-up to match it, but the Ephs went on a 12-0 tear, with Rooke-Ley leading the way with 10 points.

Polar Bears flip the switch

Trailing by seven to start the second half, Bowdoin needed a big run to close the gap and pull back the momentum. The Polar Bears did exactly that, going on a 10-0 spurt to open up the half, including a Swords dunk to pull his team ahead, 45-44.

The game returned to its backand forth nature, with Williams tying the game at 56 apiece with 13:20 remaining. However, the Polar Bears turned it on once more, going on an 11-0 tear to take a 67-56 lead with just over seven minutes to play.

Throughout the majority of the half, both teams appeared to be frustrated with the officiating, but the goal for the Polar Bears was to remain focused and finish the game on a high note.

“It’s exactly that, just stay tough,” Swords said about the team’s mentality on the bench. “It’s really just acknowledging that it (the referees) is so much a part of the game and pretty inseparable from every game.”

“Anybody reacts in a second,” Gilbride said. “But that’s got to be gone right after that. You have to be thinking about what you’re trying to execute, what you’re trying to do defensively and we have a good group that way. They’re really focused and they’re thinking about the next play.”

With under four minutes left on the clock, the Polar Bears held a 75- 63 lead, but the Ephs made a final push, outscoring Bowdoin 8-2 to cut the deficit to six points. Swords and captain Bryan Hurley kept the Polar Bears in front the remainder of the game, sinking eight of the last 10 points at the charity stripe.

With the win, the Polar Bears will face Amherst (19-6) in Hartford, Conn., at top-seeded Trinity’s home court on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Polar Bears have faced the Jeffs once this season, falling 81-66.

“I think we just have to take a lot of confidence into it,” Gilbride said about the upcoming semifinal matchup. “We’re playing good basketball right now and we just got to keep playing hard, working hard. No matter who it is it’s going to be a good game.”

“I think the lesson is focus, determination, defense and cooperation,” Swords said. “Just really let every aspect of our team (work hard). Our bench is small, but it goes deep. It’s about letting all those aspects shine.”

Bowdoin 87, Williams 74

At Bowdoin’s Morrell Gymnasium
Williams — 44 30 — 74
Bowdoin — 37 50 — 87
Williams — Mike Greenman 4-0-12, Daniel
Wohl 2-4-10, Hayden Rooke-Ley 9-3-28, Daniel
Aronowitz 0-2-2, Ryan Kilcullen 6-2-16, Chris
Galvin 0-0-0, Cole Teal 2-0-6, Darrias Sime 0-2-
2, Edward Flynn 0-0-0, Luke Thoreson 0-0-0,
Totals — 23-13-74.
Bowdoin — Bryan Hurley 2-7-12, Jake Donnelly 0-2-2, Lucas Hausman 11-11-37, Matt Palecki 4-1-9, John Swords 10-3-23, Charles
DiPasquale 0-0-0, Blake Gordon 0-0-0, Neil
Fuller 2-0-4, Stephen Girolamo 0-0-0, Liam Farley 0-0-0, Jack Hewitt 0-0-0, Totals — 29-24-
87.
3-point field goals — (W) Rooke-Ley 7, Greenman 4, Kilcullen 2, Teal 2; (B) Hausman 4, Hurley. Records — Bowdoin 18-7; Williams 14-10.
Up next for the Polar Bears — NESCAC semifinals against No. 5 Amherst at Trinity College,
Saturday at 4 p.m.