BRUNSWICK — Lucas Housman poured in 35 points, including seven in overtime, to help Bowdoin College pull out an 85-82 win against archrival Colby in a NESCAC men’s basketball game Saturday at Morrell Gym.

The victory kept the Polar Bears’ chances of obtaining a berth in the 11-team Division III conference’s tournament very much alive. They are 2-4 in NESCAC play, 9-7 overall. The top eight teams make the playoffs.

“It was a must-win game for us,” said freshman Jack Simonds of Falmouth, who scored five of his 19 points in overtime. “We had that mentality all week. The coaches pushed us all week. If we lost this, the chances of getting into the NESCAC tournament would be slim. Now we’re right back in it.”

“You knew this game was going to go right down to the end because this game was so important to both teams,” Bowdoin Coach Tim Gilbride said. “Colby played great, making some plays to make their comeback, and I was happy with how we played in overtime.”

Colby is 1-5 in NESCAC, 12-7 overall.

“We’re both fighting for a playoff spot, and obviously in our league when you only face a team one time, every game is important,” Colby Coach Damien Strahorn said. “Certainly as we move into the next two weekends, our backs are against the wall. We’re going to have to fight to get out of it.”

Bowdoin led 42-32 at the half with Hausman scoring 21 points.

“Bowdoin came out and played real well in the first half,” Strahorn said. “When you get into that kind of deficit, it’s tough to come back. We played well to claw back in it and get into overtime, but we couldn’t execute enough down the stretch.”

Colby sent the game into overtime when Luke Westman scored with 20 seconds left to make it 70-70.

The Polar Bears played almost the entire game without Matt Palecki, a 6-foot-6 forward who left with an ankle injury after less than four minutes. Palecki tried to return in the second half but left for good after a minute.

“We tried to mix up some defenses a little bit and we tried to help out a little bit in the post,” said Gilbride.

Those moves may have disrupted the Mules.

“When you face changing defenses, it sometimes affects the rhythm of the game,” Strahorn said. “I just don’t think we settled down.”

Chris Hudnut of Colby scored 27 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, including seven straight baskets during one six-minute segment.

“He played a fantastic game but it wasn’t quite enough to change the outcome,” Strahorn said.

Jack Bors, a freshman guard from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, scored a career-high 20 points for the Polar Bears.

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