Sparked by 14 second-half points from Jack Simonds, the Bowdoin College men’s basketball team overcame a seven-point second-half deficit to defeat Bates on Thursday evening in Morrell Gymnasium, 70-63.

The Polar Bears snapped a brief two-game losing streak and improved to 7-2 overall. The Bobcats fell to 4-2 on the campaign.

A back-and-forth first half saw the visitors carry a 34-31 lead into intermission thanks to 10 points from Tom Coyne. The teams were tied seven times in the first period, including six lead changes. Neither squad took more than a four-point lead at any time in the opening 20 minutes.

Coyne came out firing in the second half for Bates, scoring 10 more points in the first five minutes to give the Bobcats their biggest lead of the game, 46-39, with 15:39 to go.

Scoreless for the first 23 minutes, Simonds took over for Bowdoin, scoring five straight points to spark a 9-0 surge for the Polar Bears, giving them their first lead of the second half, 48-46, with 13 minutes on the clock.

Bowdoin kept slowly building its lead as the Bobcats went ice cold from the field. Bates was stuck on 48 points for a five-minute span as the Polar Bears increased their lead to eight points, 56- 48, following back-to-back layups from Zavier Rucker and David Reynolds.

After a scoreless first half, Simonds went 6-of-9 from the field and finished with 14 points in the second half to lead Bowdoin. O’Neil had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Reynolds added 13 and Rucker 10.

The loss spoiled a 22-point effort by Coyne, who also had nine rebounds. Lynch and Nick Gilpin had 12 points apiece for Bates.

Bowdoin will close out its first semester on Sunday at home against UMaine-Farmington.