Men's Basketball Falls to Nationally Ranked Bowdoin, 64-59

BRUNSWICK, Maine - The nationally ranked Bowdoin College men's basketball team posted a 64-59 win over visiting Bridgewater State University on Tuesday night at Morrell Gym.

The Polar Bears, who are ranked 24th in the D3hoops.com Poll, remain unbeaten at 10-0 this season while the Bears fall to 5-7 on the year. 

Matt Mathias led Bowdoin with 13 points and four assists while Andrew Madlinger pitched in a dozen points and eight rebounds. Grant White also had 12 points for the Polar Bears who received 11 from Keegan Pieri.

Bridgewater's Michael Lofton was hampered by foul trouble in the opening half but still led his team with 14 points to go along with six rebounds. Brendan Monteiro scored 10 points for the Bears, who received 12 points off the bench from Barrett Murphy.  Ten of Murphy's 12 points came in the second half.

Bowdoin jumped to a 7-0 lead and controlled most of the opening period, extending their lead to as many as 12 points before settling for an eight point advantage (32-24) at halftime.

Bridgewater stormed back into the game with a 10-0 run, sparked by a pair of Murphy three-pointers to take their first lead of the game, 40-39, with 13:56 to go. Bowdoin immediately answered with a trifecta from Matt Mathias to regain the lead, but the teams traded blows until the closing moments.

After a Murphy jumper tied the game at 47-47 with under seven minutes to go, Bowdoin rolled off a quick 9-0 surge, keyed by a John Swords dunk, extended on a Madlinger three-pointer and capped by a Pieri jumper to take a 56-48 edge with 2:30 to go.  The Bears would score just one point over a six-minute stretch after Murphy tied the game at 47-all.

The Bears closed the gap to three points on three occasions in the final minute, but Bowdoin replied with made free throws each time to seal the win.

Bowdoin held a 36-26 edge in rebounding for the night and connected on 42% of their attempts from long-range (8-19), compared to 22% (5-22) for Bridgewater.

Bowdoin will return to action Friday night at home as the open NESCAC play against Connecticut College at 8:00 p.m. Bridgewater will host MCLA in their MASCAC opener Thursday at 7:30 p.m.