Bates Roars Back to Overcome Bowdoin in Men's Basketball Quarterfinals
Courtesy Bates Sports Information
LEWISTON, Maine — The fourth-seeded Bates College men's basketball team stormed back from a 34-24 halftime deficit with a 31-5 run in the second half to defeat fifth-seeded Bowdoin College 67-51 in the NESCAC quarterfinals on Saturday.
Bryan Wholey led Bates (20-5) with 22 points, as the Bobcats set a new school record for wins in a season and remained unbeaten at home with an 11-0 record. They will face top-seeded Amherst College in the NESCAC semifinals next Saturday at Amherst. No. 2 Trinity and No. 3 Tufts face off in the other semifinal.
Bowdoin senior Kyle Petrie led all scorers with 24 points. The Polar Bears end their season with a 16-9 overall record.
Bowdoin took a 3-2 lead on a 3-pointer by Andrew Hippert, and built its advantage to as many as 12 points at three points in the game. The trio of Hippert, Petrie and Kevin Bradley combined to score 31 points in the first half, propelled by 7-of-11 shooting from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Bates' leading scorer and rebounder, junior Rob Stockwell, was held to one point and three rebounds in the first period.
Andrew Sargeantson opened the second half with a bucket, but a pair of Matt Chudomel free throws began a 31-5 outburst from the Bobcats.
A floater by Zak Ray and a 3-pointer by Wholey induced a timeout by Bowdoin, still holding a 37-33 lead with 15:28 remaining.
But Bates only got warmer, as Ray fed Wholey for a fast-break layin, then found Pat Halloran on a kickout for a 3-pointer that gave the Bobcats their first lead at 38-37. Stockwell hit a pullup three to increase the lead, and Wholey nailed another three from the corner to give the Bobcats a 44-37 lead and spur another Bowdoin timeout with 11:35 remaining in the game.
The crispness and shooting stroke that the Polar Bears rode early on had left them, and though Petrie furiously tried to keep his team in the game, the game continued to slip away from Bowdoin, who struggled in the second half with 5-for-26 shooting from the field (19.2 percent), compared to 47.8 percent in the first period.
Bates, meanwhile, shot at a 56 percent clip in the second period.
Wholey scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half. Sean Cahill dished out a game-high six assists, while Ray added five to go with eight points. Chudomel scored 10 points.
