The men's basketball team travels to take on NESCAC and state rival Bates this Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament.
"The toughest place to play in the NESCAC is Bates," said senior captain Paul Sellew. "They have a smaller gym that is always packed with student fans. We just have to withstand their runs and tune out the crowd noise as best as we can."
The team wrapped up its regular season schedule with two final home games against NESCAC opponents Wesleyan and Connecticut College. In many ways, the weekend was a microcosm of the season for the Polar Bears—up and down.
Last Friday evening, the Polar Bears found themselves locked in a close battle with the Cardinals from Wesleyan. After falling behind by a score of 27-13, Bowdoin slowly climbed back in the game, finishing the half down by just four points.
A fast-paced second half saw seven tie-scores and nine lead changes, but led by Will Hanley '12 and Mark Philips '10, the Polar Bears secured a five-point advantage with under five minutes left in regulation.
The Polar Bears were unable to hang on, however, as the time ran out in the second half with the score tied at 69.
The Cardinals started the overtime period hot, scoring the first six points before Bowdoin battled back.
Down by six points with less than 30 seconds to play, the Polar Bears forced a Cardinal turnover and turned it into three points of their own thanks to a Hanley jumper.
The comeback was too little too late, however, as a desperate 3-point attempt by sophomore guard Ryan O'Connell missed the mark.
The 80-77 defeat dropped the Polar Bears out of contention for a NESCAC tournament home game.
The Polar Bears had the chance to rebound quickly from their overtime loss when they hosted Connecticut College last Saturday.
The game was marked by the Senior Day celebrations honoring senior captains Philips, Sellew and Mike Hauser. From the start, Bowdoin asserted its dominance, cruising to a 33-22 lead at halftime.
The rest of the game followed a similar path, as Philips capped his regular season Bowdoin career with a 21 point performance, while Hanley, who was awarded NESCAC Player of the Week, added 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The 67-47 victory improved the Polar Bears' record to 13-11 on the season.
As the playoffs begin, the Polar Bears will take on Bates with the confidence of having beaten the Bobcats two times already this season.
"We definitely feel our record does not reflect how good we are," said Sellew. "We have beaten teams this year that have locked up a spot in the NCAA tournament and played others very close. We know we can beat anyone if we are clicking on all cylinders."