Bowdoin Upends Rival Colby 66-54 in Men's Basketball Quarterfinals
Courtesy Colby Sports Information
WATERVILLE, Maine - Mark Phillips (Ashland, Mass.) and Will Hanley (New Canaan, Conn.) combined for 22 points and 10 rebounds in the second half as the fifth-seeded Bowdoin College men’s basketball team pulled away for a 66-54 victory over fourth-seeded Colby College in a NESCAC quarterfinal game Saturday at Wadsworth Gymnasium.
Bowdoin (17-8) will play at top-seeded Middlebury College in a semifinal game next Saturday at 2 p.m. Williams College, the third seed, and second-seeded Amherst College will play in the other game at 4 p.m. Colby ends the season at 17-8.
Phillips finished with 15 points, including 9-for-9 from the foul line, and seven rebounds. Hanley came off the bench and shot 4-for-6 from the field for 13 points and had a team-high eight rebounds.
Colby used the energy of an enthusiastic home crowd to take a 13-6 lead when Michael Russell (Wellesley, Mass.) hit a layup with 13:12 to play in the first half. Bowdoin, though, stayed poised and chipped away and finally took the lead for good when Ryan O’Connell (Ipswich, Mass.) nailed a 3-point shot for a 20-18 Polar Bear lead with 7:38 left to halftime. Kyle Jackson (Acton, Mass.) scored five of his seven points in the final 5:05 to help Bowdoin take a 32-25 lead at intermission.
The Polar Bears used a 16-4 run to start the second half to quiet the crowd and take a 48-29 lead. Colby never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Randy Defeo (Ridgewood, N.J.) had eight points and four assists for Bowdoin. Mike Hauser (East Williston, N.Y.) added five assists, while Tim Lane (Townsend, Mass.) had seven points and five boards.
Artie Cutrone (Garden City, N.Y.), playing his final game with the Mules, had 13 points and five assists. Russell added 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while Adam Choice (Newport, R.I.), Mac Simpson (Casco, Maine), and Christian Van Loenen (Falmouth, Maine) all had nine points.
Bowdoin shot 20-for-24 from the foul line, while the Mules were just 3-for-8. Colby did not shoot a free throw until there was 11:40 left in the second half. The Polar Bears also had a slight 34-31 rebounding advantage.
