Brunswick, Maine - The Trinity College men's basketball team used a 10-0 run midway through the second half and held off a late Bowdoin rally to earn a 73-68 win in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's basketball action on Friday evening in Morrell Gymnasium.  The Bantams move to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in the NESCAC, while the Polar Bears fall to 10-4 overall and 1-2 in the league. Trinity, which defeats Bowdoin for the fifth game in a row, will visit conference foe Colby on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Trinity came out firing, connecting on eight three-pointers in the opening half to open up a double-digit lead.  The Bantams opened up a 16-point edge, 34-18, with just 4:30 remaining in the opening half thanks to consecutive three-pointers from sophomore guard Christian Porydzy (South Glastonbury, Conn.).  The Polar Bears rolled off a 15-5 surge to close the period, as Drew Gagnon scored six straight points and Jack Simonds added eight more in the run that trimmed the Trinity lead to 39-33 at intermission.

Bowdoin drew closer in the second half, opening the period on a 7-2 run, and took their first lead on a Simonds three-pointer, 48-45, with 14:30 remaining.  Trinity answered with the decisive 10-0 run that gave them the lead for good, and extended it to a 60-51 advantage on a jumper by sophomore Nick Seretta (Greenfield, Mass.) with 9:53 remaining.  The Polar Bears clawed back into the contest, cutting the lead to three points on two occasions thanks in great part to 11 missed free throws by Trinity in the second half.  Bantam senior co-captain Eric Gendron (Merrimack, N.H.) put the Polar Bears away with a jumper at 2:10, giving the visitors an insurmountable ten-point lead, 69-59.

Trinity's hot shooting cooled somewhat in the second half as both the Bantams and Polar Bears shot 45% from the field in the game.  The teams were also evenly matched in three-pointers (nine apiece) and were almost identical in rebounds (36-34 Bowdoin) and assists (15-12 Bowdoin).  The difference in the game proved to be 15 Bowdoin turnovers which led directly to 18 Trinity points. The Bantams turned the ball over just six times.  Trinity was led by Seretta with 17 points off the bench, while Porydzy and junior Jeremy Arthur (Westbury, N.Y.) ended with 14 each.  Juniors Connor Merinder (Andover, Mass.) and Judah Woney (Harlem, N.Y.) had six boards each, and Gendron dished four assists.  Simonds led all players with 24 points while Hugh O'Neil grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.