- Graham Safford '15 scored a career- and game-high 21 points in Bates' overtime setback against Bowdoin on Dec. 6, 2012. File photo by Michael Bradley/Bates College.
LEWISTON, Maine -- Bryan Hurley's 10-foot leaner with 14 seconds left in overtime broke the 13th tie of the ballgame, at 70-70, and Lucas Hausman's two free throws with three seconds left sealed a 74-70 win for Bowdoin over rival Bates in a non-conference men's basketball game played Thursday night in Alumni Gym.
Hurley led the Polar Bears (4-2) with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Maximilian Staiger added 13 points, including 11 in the second half, while Keegan Pieri and Hausman added 12 and 11 points apiece. Hausman netted six of his points in overtime: a game-tying jumper, followed by a go-ahead layup that made it 70-68 in Bowdoin's favor.
Bates sophomore Graham Safford (Hampden, Maine) led all scorers with a career-high 21 points, in addition to six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior Ed Bogdanovich (Portland, Maine) added 12 points, senior Mark Brust (Duxbury, Mass.) scored 11 with four assists, and first-year Mike Boornazian (Portland, Conn.) also netted 11 for the Bobcats (3-5).
Bates outscored Bowdoin 14-0 in second-chance points behind an 18-10 rebounding advantage, but in the second half and overtime periods combined, the Polar Bears turned the tables with a 28-14 edge on the boards and a 13-5 edge in second-chance points. Bowdoin outscored Bates 20-4 in the paint in the second half.
Brust scored four of his points in overtime on a pair of jumpers, the latter of which tied the game at 70-70 with 41 seconds to go.
The lead changed hands four times in the first half. A jumper by Nick Lenker gave Bowdoin an 18-15 lead, but senior Taylor Gartley's (Rockport, Maine) three-point play evened up the score, and the Bobcats outscored the Polar Bears 15-6 over the final 7:18 to open up a nine-point halftime advantage. Safford had a pair of threes in the run, junior Sean Cunningham (Amherst, Mass.) scored four points and Brust finished it off with a three with 1:50 to go in the period. Neither team could score over the final 110 seconds of the half.
Bates' lead expanded to 13, as a jumper by Bogdanovich, a layup by Safford and two free throws by Bogdanovich offset a layup by Pieri on a feed by Andrew Madlinger to make it 39-26 in Bates' favor, the largest lead for either team in the game.
Pieri hit back-to-back jumpers, and then fed Staiger for a three-point play, but Safford kept the Bobcats in good shape with two more threes, and a jumper by Bogdanovich had Bates in the lead at 47-37 with 14:39 to go.
Staiger then went to work, personally outscoring Bates 6-1 to cut the lead to 48-43. After a Hausman jumper made it 53-49, John Swords stuffed a jumpshot by junior Luke Matarazzo (Shelton, Conn.), one of his three blocked shots in the game, and he followed it with a putback at the other end to cut it to 53-51. Bowdoin benefited from three more offensive boards on its next possession, which ended in a three-point play by Hausman to give Bowdoin its first lead in over 20 minutes, at 54-53 with 6:34 left in regulation. Hurley then offset a free throw by Matarazzo with two straight layins for a 58-55 Bowdoin lead.
A baseline jumper by Bogdanovich, followed by a three from the wing by Boornazian, returned the lead to the Bobcats at 60-58 with 2:02 to go. Staiger hit a pair of foul shots to retie the game, but Safford drove and dished to Bogdanovich for a go-ahead layup with 1:06 left. With 35 seconds left in regulation, Pieri banked in a jumper from 12 feet out on a feed by Hurley to make it 62-62. Bates inbounded with eight seconds left but couldn't get a final shot off.