BRUNSWICK, Me. – Senior Will Scherer netted a team-high 15 points and 19 rebounds Saturday afternoon, helping the Amherst men's basketball team edge Bowdoin College 59-55 in a back-and-forth showdown in the Morrell Gymnasium.

The Mammoths improved to 11-9 and 2-4 in the NESCAC, while Bowdoin dropped to 10-10 and 0-6 in the conference. Amherst will stay on the road to face Tufts on Friday, where they'll face the Jumbos in the Cousens Gymnasium at 7 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

*Amherst exploded away from the Polar Bears in the opening five minutes, racking up 9 points as junior Chris Hammond, senior Bobby Sommers, sophomore Marc Garraud, and Scherer each netted a layup to give Amherst an early advantage.

*The Polar Bears responded in the next five minutes with a 10-0 rally of their own, making it a 1-point game as three-pointers from junior Alex Halpern and senior Afamdi Achufusi helped Bowdoin erase Amherst's lead with 8:35 to play.

*Despite two free throws from Sommers helping Amherst regain their lead, the Polar Bears continued to pressure the Mammoths as first-year Ray Cuevas netted 7 points back-to-back to give Bowdoin a 19-13 lead over Amherst with just under six minutes remaining in the stanza.

*As the final three minutes of the half approached, Sommers drove into the paint and found Scherer at the block for a layup. Sommers netted himself a layup one minute later, taking Amherst within one point of the Polar Bears. As Scherer notched his 11^th point of the night with a dunk, senior C.J. Mitchell bucketed a jumper with four seconds remaining to close the half up 25-22 for the Mammoths.

 *Bowdoin found the equalizer with 16:50 remaining in the second half as both teams traded buckets to tie 30-30.  Three minutes later, a three-pointer from C.J. Mitchell equalized the matchup again at 36-36 with 13:08 to play.

*The next five minutes saw the Mammoths edge ahead of the Polar Bears by one point as Mitchell netted a jumper and a layup from the paint to make it 42-41.

*Garraud ran a give-and-go with junior Giovanni Tam with 4:32 remaining to give Amherst a 2-point lead at 45-43. The guard followed up one minute later with another layup to make it 47-46 with 3:55 to play.

*As the final two minutes ticked away, eight late free throws and a jumper from Mitchell gave Amherst a 57-51 advantage. Back-to-back layups brought the Polar Bears within two points of the Mammoths in the final two seconds, but Amherst held on to clinch the 59-55 victory.

BY THE NUMBERS:

*Amherst held an advantage in field goals and free throws, converting 36.8% (21-57) of field goals compared to 34.5% (20-58) from Bowdoin, and 68.2% of free throws compared to 60% from the Polar Bears. Bowdoin led in three-pointers, scoring 20% compared to 10.5% from the Mammoths.

*Scherer was the only player to score a double-double on the Amherst bench, netting 15 points and making 19 rebounds alongside a team-high 3 blocks. Mitchell and Garraud came second in scoring, each bucketing 13 points.