New London — Connecticut College senior Justin Nwafor said he’s trying to “plant seeds” during his final year.

Nwafor is part of the Connecticut College Athletes of Color Coalition, a group that was started by teammate (and classmate) Noah Wills-Johnston and Stephania Lopez from the water polo team. He's also started a committee through the pre-health department to help minorities in the medical field.

Nwafor is watching the seeds grow on the Conn College men’s basketball team, too. They started four freshmen during Sunday afternoon's 76-43 rout of Mitchell College at Yarnall Athletic Center, their first win of their abbreviated season.

"We're young," Nwafor said. "We're getting the kinks out, but we have a lot of potential. It's good to see it."

"Baby Camels," second-year Conn head coach Tim Sweeney quipped.

Senior Jeff Allen came off the bench and made 9 of 13 shots for a game-high 23 points for the Camels (1-2). He missed the first two games due to an ankle injury.

Conn had three other players score in double figures, all of which are freshmen — Ben Rice (13 points, six steals), David Murray (12 points, 7 rebounds) and Jarron Flynn (10 points).

"The biggest priority for us as a program right now is to give these seniors one final experience in their college career," Sweeney said. "We clearly want them to go out on a super-high note.

"Having said that, we have a unique roster with seniors and mainly freshmen. So the freshman have been thrown in the fire, so to speak, and we are not afraid to play them. And, quite frankly, it is a great experience for their development.

The Mariners (0-3) are inexperienced, too, with a number of players opting out to learn remotely. Junior Jalen Benson of New London is their lone returning starter. Classmate Jacob Tully (13 points) is the only other player who averaged double figures in minutes last season.

"We're trying to figure out who can we work with, who is going to buy in," Mariners head coach Todd Peretz said. "Playing for 40 minutes and playing hard and having some attention to detail to me is more important than shooting the ball well."

Senior Julius Hemingway added seven points and seven rebounds for Mitchell.

The Mariners have had the luxury of being together since Oct. 1 with almost 50 practices. The Camels, on the other hand, didn't get to start practicing together until Feb. 18. That, and an abbreviated schedule, combine to make an undesirable way to end one's college career.

"It's been good just to be able to get in the gym with these guys," Allen said. "I tell them every day that we're so lucky to have an opportunity to be out here and play; not to take it for granted and to get better every single day."

The Camels scored the game's first eight points and never looked back. Their size gave the smaller Mariners fits as junior Ryan Omslaer (7-foot), Allen (6-7) and Rice (6-7) each had 10 rebounds. Omslaer also had six of his team's 12 blocks.

Conn had a 50-20 edge in points in the paint and shot 43.2 percent (32-of-74). They also had an 18-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Mariners shot 22.2 percent (16-of-72).

"(They have) a lot of size, a lot of length, and we don't shoot the ball as well as we have (in the past)," Peretz said. "Not a lot of teams play zone anymore. Seeing zone is different for us, but, yeah, their size definitely bothered us."

Flynn's steal and layup gave the Camels their largest lead, 67-23, with 8 minutes, 40 seconds left in the game.

"I still feel like it's fulfilling," Nwafor said about his final season.

n.griffen@theday.com