MIDDLETOWN, Conn - The Bowdoin College men's basketball team survived a furious Wesleyan rally in the final three minutes of their regular season finale on Saturday and escaped with a 72-71 victory to lock up the eighth and final spot in the NESCAC tournament. Bowdoin will travel to top-seeded Williams for its playoff opener next Saturday, February 19 at 2:00 p.m.  Wesleyan was eliminated from tournament contention with the loss.

In the victory, Bowdoin's Will Hanley scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, becoming just the 21st player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point barrier when he scored the first three Polar Bear points of the game. In addition, the junior forward becomes only the 10th Polar Bears to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career.

Both teams forged six-point leads in the first half, only to be tied, 31-31, with 2:57 left.  Bowdoin then rattled off nine of the final 11 points of the period, to take a 40-33 edge at intermission. Bowdoin maintained the advantage throughout the second half, leading by as many as 16, 61-45, with 6:52 remaining. 

The lead stood at 12, 67-55, with 3:30 to go before Wesleyan staged its comeback.  Scoring on seven consecutive possessions, the Cardinals whittled the difference to a single point, 72-71, with :18.4 left when sophomore Shasha Brown sank a three-pointer, giving him a team-high 20 points.  After looking for a steal for 10 seconds, Wesleyan fouled Hanley. 

Hanley missed both his free throws at the :08.5 mark and Wesleyan sophomore Matt Callori grabbed the rebound, dishing it off to Brown.  Brown dribbled to the top of the key into traffic and dished to an open sophomore Derick Beresford in the right corner.  His three-point attempt hit the left side of the rim, and bounded past the hoop as the final horn sounded.

It was a 19-7 run by Bowdoin between the 17:20 mark of the second half and the 6:52 mark, which including a string of 10 consecutive point, that carried the visitors to their 16-point lead.  Junior Ryan O'Connell scored five of the first nine points during the run as the Polar Bears pushed a 42-38 lead to 51-40 with 13:11 on the clock. O'Connell also saw double figures for Bowdoin with 12 points.