Courtesy Trinity Sports Information

Box Score

HARTFORD, Conn. - Junior center Russ Martin (East Longmeadow, Mass.) had a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 77-67 win over the visiting Bowdoin College Polar Bears in the quarterfinal round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men's Basketball Championship Tournament this afternoon at Oosting Gymnasium.  Trinity improves to 21-3 and will face Williams College, which downed Tufts, 84-72, in its quarterfinal game today, in the tourney semifinals on Saturday, February 24 at Amherst College.  The finals of the tournament will be Sunday, February 25 at Amherst.  Amherst and Colby College will play in the semifinal game next Saturday.

Trinity used a 20-3 run in the second half to turn a 43-39 Bowdoin lead into a 59-46 Bantam advantage with just under five minutes left in the game.  Senior guard Patrick Martin (Springfield, Mass.) ignited the spurt with a traditional three-point play with just over 13 minutes on the clock, and a pair of free throws by junior guard Patrick Hasiuk (Enfield, Conn.) gave Trinity the lead for good at 44-43 a couple of minutes later.  The Polar Bears pulled with seven points at 61-54 on a three-pointer by junior guard Andrew Hippert (Spencer, Mass.) at the four-minute mark and again at 72-65 with under a minute left on a Hippert four-point play.  Trinity made five out of six free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.

Bowdoin took an early lead, 13-5, in the opening seven minutes, but a pair of three-pointers by Hasiuk and a 15-foot jumper by classmate Robert Taylor III (Dorchester Center, Mass.) tied the game at 15-15 at the midpoint of the first half.  The Polar Bears scored nine of the next 13 points to go ahead, 24-19, on a short jumper by junior forward Jordan Fleigel (Cambridge, Mass.), but the Bantams battled their way back to tie the game again just before the break, 29-29, on a lay-up by Russ Martin.  Bowdoin sophomore forward Kyle Jackson (Acton, Mass.) had 12 of his game-high 19 points at the half.

Russ Martin was one of five Bantams in double figures in scoring, as senior guard Kino Clarke (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Hasiuk each scored 14 points, Taylor finished with 12 points, and Patrick Martin added 11 points.  Taylor also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and Clarke snatched six boards.  Hippert joined Jackson in double figures in scoring for the Polar Bears with 18 points, including the 1,000th of his collegiate career on a first-half layup.  Bowdoin junior forward Andrew Sargeantson (New Canaan, Conn.) added 10 points.