USM’s improbable second half comeback fell short with three seconds remaining when Bowdoin’s sophomore guard Will Hanley (New Canaan, CT) laid in the ball for the 68-66 win in Gorham last Tuesday.
The Bowdoin Polar Bears saw their 41-23 halftime lead vanish at the hands of the Huskies, led by junior forward Cortez Isaac (Washington, DC), who lead all scorers with 34 points. The Huskies dropped to 1-5 after the game, while Bowdoin improved to 3-1.
USM struggled doing much of anything in the first half. The Polar Bears out-rebounded them, out-shot, and simply out-played them. The Huskies had trouble initiating a full-court press and couldn’t seem to grab a rebound on defense.
“I think in the first half we gave up too many transition baskets,” said head coach Karl Henrickson.
Bowdoin increased their lead to 20 at the start of the second half with a three-point play by Hanley. Down 47-27, the Huskies went on a 28-8 run and tied the game up at 55-55 with under ten minutes to play. The lightning rod of the attack, Isaac, scored 17 of those points, despite Bowdoin’s attempts at double teaming and trapping him.
With the scored tied up again at 61-61, Isaac scored five consecutive points to give the Huskies a 66-61 lead. Bowdoin came back to even the score once more with 1:32 remaining.
With less than a minute remaining, the fans at Hill Gymnasium stood on their feet as Isaac brought the ball down the court. As the shot clock ran down, Isaac took the ball through the lane to the hoop, but missed the go-ahead lay-up. Bowdoin grabbed the rebound and called a timeout. After passing the ball around the perimeter, Hanley drove towards the lane along the baseline and scored the winning basket with only seconds remaining.
Hanley led the Polar Bears with 18 points and had 13 rebounds. Sophomore guard Ryan O’Connell scored 15, coming off the bench, and senior center Mark Phillips put up 14 points for Bowdoin. Isaac shot 10 for 15 from the field, which included an impressive 6 for 9 from behind the arc. Junior guard John Sewall (Bath) and sophomore forward Leif O’Connell (Hodgdon) both had 10 points apiece.