NEW LONDON, Conn.--The Bowdoin College men's basketball team collected a 77-48 victory at Connecticut College in the conference opener for both teams played at Luce Field House Friday night.

The Polar Bears improved their record to 9-3 (1-0 NESCAC) with their fifth straight win, while the Camels fell to 7-5.

Junior Lucas Hausman (Westport, Conn.) poured in a game-high 22 points for the visitors, shooting 9-for-16 from the field and 3-for-3 from the foul line. Senior Keegan Pieri (Camden, Maine) chipped in with 21 points and 11 boards en route to a double double. Senior center John Swords (Sudbury, Mass.) was 6-for-8 from the field and finished with 12 points and 10 boards for the Polar Bears.

Connecticut College sophomore forward Zuri Pavlin (New York, N.Y.) finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for the hosts.  Freshmen Lee Messier (Narragansett, R.I.) and Isaiah Robinson (Lynn, Mass.) both finished with eight points in the setback. Messier had five rebounds while Robinson finished with four.

Colin Pascoe (Somers, Conn.) had four points, four rebounds and four assists. Freshman Doug Henton (New London, Conn.) injected some energy into the Camel offense with four points and two assists in his home debut.

"We really struggled to score at times even when we got good looks for fast break opportunities,"  Connecticut College Head Men's Basketball Coach Tom Satran said. "That hurt our confidence a bit and put us in more transition defense situations than we would have preferred."  

Bowdoin jumped out to an early advantage, taking a 15-7 lead when Swords collected an offense board and tipped one in with 14:22 remaining.  The lead ballooned to 11 when Matt Palecki (Southborough, Mass.) finished on a feed from Bryan Hurley (Watertown, Mass.) with 7:21 remaining to make it a 24-13 game.

But Henton sparked the Camels with some nice ball handling to push tempo. After Pavlin collected a rebound, he fed Henton on a fast break for a hoop and some harm that capped a 7-to-0 run to make it a 24-20 game.

But Bowdoin ended the half with a high low feed from Hurley to Swords in the paint for a lay up that pushed Bowdoin's lead to 32-26 at the break.

In the early stages of the second stanza, Bowdoin mounted a 15-to-6 run to take a 16 point lead. Pieri buried a jumper from the top of the key with 12:02 remaining before Hausman capped the rally with 9:20 to go with a hoop in the paint that pushed the Polar Bears lead to 52-36.

Henton assisted Pavlin for a jumper that trimmed the deficit to 58-45 with 6:04 to go but the Camels could not get any closer and Bowdoin continued to pull away for the 77-48 win.

Both teams will play tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The Polar Bears will visit Wesleyan while the Camels will host Colby College here in New London.