United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Men's Basketball

After winning just two conference games all off last season and making a Cinderella run to win the 2007 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament, Coast Guard is out to prove the tournament was not a fluke and Bears mission is to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

“Our mission is simple. We want to get back to the NCAA Tournament and anything less than that should be viewed as an honor offense around this Academy, because we would be cheating ourselves,” said head coach Pete Barry in his 18th season. “We are the United States Coast Guard, we carry out missions that are supposed to be carried out, it’s plain nonsense to think that we can’t complete this mission.”

Coast Guard made its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since the 1978-’79 season and finished 14-14 overall. The Bears return all five starters and welcome back preseason All-America junior Craig Johnson, who took a religious sabbatical last season in Honduras.

In the 2005-’06 season, Johnson set the single-season school record with 507 points, earned first team All-conference honors and was named to the D3hoops.com All-region second team as he averaged 19.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Johnson led the NEWMAC in field goal percentage (.613), was third in scoring (19.5) and second in rebounding (10.2). He became the first Coast Guard player to score over 30 points four times in one season.

The Bears return a pair of All-conference players from last season in senior forward Jeff Prebeck and senior point guard co-captain Al Sowers, who both scored their 1,000th career point last season.

Prebeck, a third team All-region and first team All-conference selection, tied for second nationally with 12.3 rebounds per game, was fourth in the NEWMAC and led the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game while setting the single-season school record with 344 rebounds. He is 174 points and 277 rebounds shy of the school career records of 1,402 points and 1,134 rebounds held by Mark Harris (‘96).

Sowers, a second-team All-conference selection, was second on the team with 15.1 points per game and led the team with 95 assists. Sowers, who has 1,111 career points, is just seven assists shy of the school record of 321 career assists held by current assistant coach Sam Cheung (‘02).

Also returning to the starting lineup is senior guard and co-captain Grant Johnson (12.6 ppg.), sophomore forward Eric Hudson (7.3 ppg.) and senior center Steve Blum (7.6 ppg., 6.1 rpg.), who made 21 starts last season.

“Blum, who was solid for us last season, continues to get better every day, so with him, Prebeck and Craig Johnson it is inexcusable for us to be outrebounded,” said Barry.

Johnson set the single-season school record with 83 three-pointers and the Bears set the single season school record with 203 three-pointers last season.

“We have three players, who have never missed a start in three years, in Prebeck, Sowers and Johnson and now to get Craig back is a godsend because with all that we accomplished last season we can become better,” said Barry. “The players know that they have alot to makeup for from the regular season last year, they have to try to prove that the championship wasn’t a mistake. We underachieved last season, this year, we don’t need to overachieve all we have to do is achieve and we will be successful.”

Coast Guard will have a solid group coming off the bench this season. Sophomore Stefan Lewis (3.0 ppg.), who appeared in all 28 games last season and junior Justin Church (2.7 ppg.) will see time at both of the guard spots. Sophomore Aaron Jones will see time both at guard and at the small forward spot.

Freshman Jevon James, who is 6’5”, is a great looking young player with a lot of energy, he along with classmates guard Brett Huntley and forward Trip Fernandes give coach Barry plenty of options off the bench.

“We have the opportunity with the returners we have and the experience of working through all the issues last season to have a great season,” said Barry. “I don’t want to be average and I don’t want any surprises or excuses, we just need to go out and win and win in a quality style, it’s all about performance and success.”