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

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(1/16/08)--MIT scored the first nine points of the game and built a 19-7 lead in the first six minutes before Coast Guard used a 23-3 run to win its first New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game of the season with a 64-58 win over the Engineers.

The Engineers (9-6, 1-2) hit their first three 3-pointers and jumped out to a 9-0 lead. MIT made its first five 3-pointers, the fifth by Will Mroz for a 19-7 lead with 14:17 left in the first half.

Coast Guard (10-3, 1-2) then responded by outscoring MIT 23-3 including 15 straight to take a 30-22 lead with 2:47 left in the first half. The Bears led 33-27 at the break.

The Bears, which led by as many as 17 in the second half, 47-30 with 14:29 left in the game, saw MIT cut the deficit to just four at 56-52 with 2:40 left, but Coast Guard held on to snap a three-game losing streak.

Senior Grant Johnson led all scorers with 17 points, as he hit four 3-pointers, including the 200th of his career. Senior Jeff Prebeck had 15 points to go with his team-high six rebounds while classmate Al Sowers added 12 points.

Junior Jimmy Bartolotta, the NEWMAC’s leading scorer, with 25.8 points per game, led MIT with 15 points while junior Hamidou Soumare added 12 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Mroz was also in double figures for the Engineers with 10 points.

Coast Guard shot 47.9 percent from the field (23-48) and a sizzling 52.6 percent from 3-point range (10-19) while MIT shot 43.5 percent from both the field (20-46) and 3-point range (10-23).