United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Men's Basketball - Bears Win NEWMAC Championship; Punch Ticket to NCAA's

WORCESTER, MASS.--(3/2/08)--Senior Steve Blum tied a career-high with 19 points as third-seeded Coast Guard dominated the second half outscoring top-seeded and host WPI 51-32 in the final 20 minutes enroute to its tenth straight win, a 82-66 victory, its second straight New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Last year, seventh-seeded Coast Guard stunned top-seeded WPI 71-66 to win the NEWMAC tournament championship game.

Al Sowers, Grant Johnson and the Bears celebrated on WPI's home court for the second straight season. (photo by Lisa Bono)

WPI had beaten Coast Guard twice during the regular season this year, 71-62 in Worcester and 66-57 in New London. The loss in New London on February 2nd is the last time Coast Guard has been beaten this year.

With the win, Coast Guard (21-6) ties the school-record with its 21st victory. The 1978-‘79 team also won 21 games. The Bears, who are making the third trip in school history to the NCAA Tournament, will find out their opponent for the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday at noon.

Blum, who made his first eight field goal attempts, scored nine of the Bears’ first 11 points in the second half as Coast Guard used an 11-2 spurt to turn a five point deficit at 36-31 into a 42-38 lead with 16:44 left.

Coast Guard won its second straight NEWMAC tournament championship.

WPI senior Antoine Coleman scored the first basket of the second half as WPI extended its lead to 36-31 before Coast Guard scored nine straight, seven by Blum for a 40-36 lead with 17:11 left.

WPI (21-6) tied the game 48-48 on a 3-pointer by senior Jim Marois with 14:20 left before the Bears scored nine straight capped by a senior Grant Johnson 3-pointer with 11:59 left for a 57-48 lead.

Coast Guard took its largest lead at 68-55 with 3:40 left before WPI scored six straight to make it a 68-61 score with 2:27 left. The Bears however, put the game away by going 12-for-12 from the foul line in the final 2:07. Coast Guard was 20 for 22 from the foul line in the game.

The Bears shot a sizzling 53.6 percent (15-28) in the second half and 48.3 percent in the game (29-60) from the floor.

Grant Johnson had 17 added points to go with his game-high nine rebounds and seven assists including the 300th assist of his career. He is one of just three players to record 300 career assists for Coast Guard along with all-time leader senior Al Sowers, who has 393 and current assistant coach Sam Cheung, how is now second with 321.

Sowers added 15 points while freshman Jevon James celebrated his birthday with 11 points on five-of-six shooting.

WPI led by as many as six at 27-21 in the first half following a pair of free throws by Coleman with 6:56 left before Coast Guard used a 10-2 run to take the lead 31-29 with 3:04 left, its first lead since 8-7 with 15:10 left. Grant Johnson ended the 10-2 spurt with five straight points on a 3-pointer and then a layup following a steal by Prebeck.

The Engineers scored the final five points of the half to take a 34-31 lead at the break. WPI shot 42.4 percent from the floor (14-33) in the first half while Coast Guard shot 43.8 percent (14-32), the Bear however made just one of 10 from 3-point range while WPI converted on 4 of 13 from behind the arc.

Coleman, who finished with a game-high 22 points, led WPI with 15 first half points while Blum led the Bears with eight points in the first half, as he was a perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the field.

The 16-point win was the Bears largest margin of victory in a conference game this season while the 82 points were the most points that Coast Guard scored in NEWMAC play this year.