BOX SCORE

LEWISTON, Maine - Bowdoin's Mark Phillips posted 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Polar Bear men's basketball team to a thrilling 74-70 overtime win at Bates on Friday evening. The win snaps a brief two-game losing skid and improves Bowdoin to 9-5 this season (1-1 NESCAC). The Bobcats fall to 7-9 (0-3 NESCAC).

The victory is the first career win for Bowdoin assistant coach Preston Beverly, who served as head coach on Friday evening in the absence of Tim Gilbride, who missed the game due to illness.

In addition to Phillips, Bowdoin received a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) from Will Hanley. Wyatt Littles added 12 points off the bench, and Mike Hauser dished out a game-high 10 assists.

Brian Ellis led Bates (7-9, 0-3 NESCAC) with 19 points along with seven rebounds, while rookie guard Mark Brust had a season-high 17 points, including 11 in the second half and two more in overtime, to go with a team-high four assists. John Squires grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Bobcats on the boards. Bates turned the ball over only seven times all game, Bowdoin only 11.

Hanley opened the overtime period with a layup, then answered a three-point play by Ellis with a steal and a layup to put Bowdoin up 66-65. Both teams missed three straight shots before Brust pushed Bates back ahead for the last time with 50 seconds left, weaving his way around to an open spot on the right wing for a jumper off the glass.

Bowdoin's Ryan O'Connell nailed a three-pointer late in the shot clock for a 69-67 Bowdoin lead with 31 seconds left. After Bates missed a pair of free throws that could have tied the game back up, Littles hit one of two foul shots for a 70-67 lead. Marshall Hatch tried to tie the game with 8 seconds left but missed a deep three. Hauser hit two foul shots with six seconds left, and Hatch drained a 35-foot three with 0.8 seconds to go to close the gap to 72-70. Hauser was fouled and calmly hit two final free throws to clinch the victory for Bowdoin.

Bates never led in the second half but kept the deficit in single digits the entire time, despite red-hot post play by Phillips. In the first five minutes of the half, Phillips hit on two jumpers, three layups and a dunk, making all six of his shot attempts. But a pair of jumpers by Squires and a layup by Brust kept it at 46-40 as the clock went under 15:00. A layup by Littles and a jumper by Hanley pushed the lead to 50-41 with 13:24 left, but Thomas Deegan and Alex Gallant both found daylight underneath for hoops to close the gap to 50-45.

Phillips hit another jumper, but Bates responded with seven unanswered points on two Brust jumpers and three free throws by Ellis to tie the game at 52 with 6:29 left. Then it was Hanley's turn to catapult the Bowdoin offense. He broke the tie with a three, drained a jumper to push the lead to 57-52 with 5:21 to go. Two straight jumpers by Brust, followed by a foul shot by the rookie, closed it to 59-57 at the 3:00 mark, but Bowdoin answered loudly as Hauser found Hanley open on a back-door cut for a dunk, prompting a Bates timeout at 2:29 with the Polar Bears leading 61-57.

Bates outscored Bowdoin 5-1 over the final 2:10, however, to force overtime. Brust found Ellis for a layup. Ellis hit 1 of 2 foul shots at 1:27, then powered inside for a layup with 45 seconds left that tied the game at 62. Littles missed a layup attempt on Bowdoin's final possession, giving Bates the ball for the final 21 seconds. Schmiemann dribbled alone to wind the clock down, then tried to come off a high screen to get off an open jumper but missed a contested shot from beyond the arc as regulation time expired. Bowdoin outshot Bates .542 to .464 in the second half, but the Bobcats managed to outscore the Polar Bears 32-28 in the period.

Bowdoin outshot Bates .481 to .367 from the field in the first half and outrebounded the hosts 20-15, but only got a 34-30 lead out of it. Wyatt Littles came off the bench for nine points to lead the Polar Bears in the period, while Phillips posted seven points, seven rebounds and three assists. Meanwhile Schmiemann had seven for Bates.