BRUNSWICK, Maine – The tenth-ranked Trinity College Men's Basketball team posted their second-largest victory of the season with an 87-43 win over host Bowdoin College in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tilt at Morrell Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. The Bantams wrap the regular season with a 21-3 record and a 8-2 mark in the NESCAC, while the Polar Bears slide to 11-13 overall and 1-9 in conference play.
 
Junior Jarrel Okorougo registered a game-high 22 points, shooting 10-of-13 from the field, with a team-high seven rebounds and a steal. Junior Henry Vetter tallied 10 points with four rebounds, an assist and a steal, while sophomore Jared Berry netted 10 points with five rebounds and a steal. Juniors Drew Lazarre and Paul Jordan and first-year David Ayles added eight points apiece, with Ayles adding a game-high three assists.
 
Ray Cuevas was the lone Polar Bear in double-figures with a team-high 12 points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist. Nolan Bessire logged nine points with a game-high nine rebounds. Afamdi Achufusi chipped in six points and James McGowan grabbed five rebounds in the loss.
 
Okorougo opened the scoring with six straight points, followed by a trey from Vetter to put Trinity ahead 9-3 at the 16:43 mark of the first half. The Polar Bears trimmed the lead to 9-8 over the next two minutes, but the Bantams began to pull away with a 19-3 run, powered by six points from Okorougo and four from Ayles, to extend the Trinity lead to 28-11 with 3:25 on the clock. Berry buried a triple to create a 35-15 lead, but late free throws from Cuevas set the score at 37-19 at the half.
 
Trinity carried their momentum into the second half, kicking off the frame with a 19-5 run, paced by six points from Okorougo and triples from Vetter, Lazarre and senior Will Dorion to doubled up the Polar Bears, 56-24, with 14:32 to play. The Bantams reserves saw extended minutes to close out the game as Berry netted seven points and Jordan and sophomore Paul Ippolito added six points each to seal the 87-43 victory.
 
The Bantams edged the Polar Bears on the glass, 37-32, and dominated the paint, 32-14, and bench points, 40-12. Trinity shot 36-of-63 (57.1%) from the floor, including 8-of-20 (40%) from three-point and 7-of-11 (63.6%) from the foul line. Bowdoin connected on 12-of-50 (24%) from the field, 3-of-24 (12.5%) from three-point and 16-of-22 (72.7%) from the free throw stripe.
 
The Bantams earned the #2 seed in the NESCAC Men's Basketball Championship and will host #7 Colby College (13-11, 4-6 NESCAC) in the Quarterfinals at Oosting Gymnasium on Saturday, February 22 at 4:30 p.m.
 
TRINITY ATHLETICS