By Adam Sherf '23

NEW LONDON, Conn. – In a rare midweek matinee, the Connecticut College men's basketball team played host to the Bowdoin College Polar Bears and fell by a 76-72 decision on Wednesday afternoon at the Charles B. Luce Fieldhouse.
 
Determined to return to winning form, the Camels looked to set the tone early and came out of the gates strong. Just 12 seconds into the game Ben Rice (Hanson, Mass.) buried a three-pointer to grab an early lead.
 
However, the Polar Bears responded quickly, as a dunk from junior forward Xander Werkman ignited a scoring run that resulted in an early eight-point lead for the visitors. 
 
After falling behind by double digits midway through the opening period, the Camels rallied, and a buzzer-beating fadeaway from sophomore forward David Murray (Jackson Heights, N.Y.) seemed to give the hosts a favorable momentum swing going into the half.
 
Carrying a 36-29 deficit into the locker room, the Camels looked to bounce back quickly in the opening minutes of the second period. Following consecutive scores from freshman forward Andrew Hartel (Cape Elizabeth, Maine), the Camels amped up their defensive pressure, forcing three turnovers in less than two minutes, which was capped off by a Jarron Flynn (Roslindale, Mass.) layup to cut the Bowdoin lead to just one.
 
However, the Camels would come no closer, as the Polar Bears dug deep defensively and through a series of stops and scores was able to widen the margin to nine points on an emphatic two-handed slam from Werkman. 
 
Trailing by nine with under a minute to go, the Camels' resilience was once again put to the test, and with quick scores from Hartel and Flynn the deficit quickly narrowed. With no choice but to foul, the Camels put the fate of the game in the hands of the Polar Bear's free throw shooters who managed to protect the lead just enough to keep the game out of the Camels grasp.
 
With time expiring, freshman guard Cam Schainfeld (Newton, Mass.) banked home a deep three pointer. However, the Camels' 43-40 advantage in the second half was not enough to overcome Bowdoin's strong play in the opening period, as the visitors held on to earn a 76-72 win.
 
Headlined by Taiga Kagitomi's 18 points and eight rebounds, Bowdoin (10-7, NESCAC 1-3) had four players in double digit scoring as freshman guard James McGowan joined the aforementioned Werkman with 12 points in the scoring column. Fellow freshman Afamdi Achufusi contributed an efficient 13 points by shooting a perfect 100 percent from the field.
 
Schainfeld and Flynn led the way for the Camels scoring 19 and 16 points respectively, the former of the two being the game high and the latter coming on an efficient 8-of-9 shooting. The Camels also received notable bench contributions as sophomores Billy Whelan (Hamilton, Mass.) and Murray contributed 10 and 12 points, respectively.
 
Connecticut College (6-6, NESCAC 1-2) will look to return to its winning ways on Saturday, January 22nd when it travels to Trinity College to take on the Bantams at 3:00 p.m.