Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy's wrestling team picked up its first win of the season against Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as the indoor track teams racked up the highest point totals in an opening invitational. The Bears were less fortunate on the basketball game, losing to Clark University and Mount Holyoke College. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Men's Basketball: Clark 76, Coast Guard 65

Senior Travis Curley had a career-high 28 points, connecting on five three-pointers and host Clark raced past Coast Guard, 76-65, in New England Women’s And Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men’s basketball action.

Overall, Curley was an extremely efficient 10-for-15 from the field, helping the Cougars shoot nearly 48 percent for the game and 45 percent from behind the arc.

Clark took a 42-26 lead into halftime by shooting a sizzling 56 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including a 7-for-11 performance from three-point land.

Up by as many as 20 in the opening moments of the second half, the Cougars saw their lead dwindle to 11 on a Greg Marshall jumper with less than six minutes left to play.

Clark then ran off six straight points as Mitch Renshaw found Curley underneath for an inside hoop, Drew Billington hit D.J. Bailey for a fast break finish and Bailey dropped in a pair of free throws, making the score 66-49 with 4:42 to play.

Undaunted, the Bears went on a 12-2 run as Marshall, Trip Fernandes and Jimmy Knudsen all connected on three-pointers, trimming the Cougar advantage to seven at 68-61 with 2:04 left on the clock.

Billington then somehow found Tucker Esborn with a pass on the right block that he put in while being fouled and converted into a conventional three-point play.

After a Marshall missed three, Curley dropped in his fifth triple, pushing the lead back to 13 at 74-61, ending any thoughts of a Coast Guard comeback.

The Cougars shared the ball well the entire contest, handing out 22 assists on 29 made baskets, with Billington providing a career-best ten with just two turnovers.

Clark held a 39-30 edge on the glass and a 38-20 advantage on points in the paint.

Bailey (13 points, six rebounds) and Renshaw (seven points, eight rebounds) led the Cougar reserves, who outscored the Coast Guard second unit 23-16.

In addition to Curley, Esborn tallied 14 points and four rebounds and Marcus Armstrong chipped in with seven points, three rebounds and a pair of assists in 26 minutes.

Marshall led the way for the Bears, totaling 18 points, while Fernandes tied his season-high with 13 points in 33 minutes. David Anderson ended with 12 points and five rebounds, while Devonte Weems recorded seven points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Clark, which snapped a three-game losing streak with the win, improves to 8-7 overall and 1-2 in league play while Coast Guard has now lost four consecutive games to slip to 6-7. They also remain winless in NEWMAC play (0-4).

Women's Basketball: Mount Holyoke 63, Coast Guard 51

Junior Angelica Pascual had a 16 of her game-high 23 points in the second half as Mount Holyoke snapped a three-game losing streak and won its first conference game of the season with a 63-51 win over Coast Guard in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.

The Lyons but the game away by scoring seven straight points over a span of 3:35 turning a 45-42 lead into a 52-42 with just 4:07 left in the game.

Coast Guard led by as many as nine in the first half, 20-11 with 7:54 left before Mount Holyoke began to press the Bears and used a 12-2 spurt for a 23-22 lead with 4:49 left in the half. The Lyons led 28-27 at the break.

Sophomore Brittney Zimmerman’s hoop with 18:15 left in the game gave Coast Guard a 29-28 lead before senior Christine Chancy gave the Lyons the lead for good, 30-29, with a pair of free throws with 17:35 left. Those free throws were part of a 10-2 spurt as Mount Holyoke took a 38-31 lead with 14:29 remaining.

Pascual was nine of 15 from the floor and Mount Holyoke shot 45.8 percent (11-24) in the second half and 39.7 percent for the game (23-58) from the field while hitting three of nine from 3-point range.

Freshman Amber Legare was also in double figures for the Lyons as she finished with 12 points. Senior Christine Chancy and Legare each had seven rebounds to lead the way while Legare added a team-high four assists.

Freshman Brittney Zimmerman led Coast Guard with 18 points on eight of 13 shooting while classmate Dani Knox added 13 points off the bench for the Bears, who drop to 5-7 overall and 1-7 in conference play.

Sophomore Kaitlin Ward had a game-high eight rebounds to lead Coast Guard.

The Bears shot 32.8 percent from the field (21-64) while making two of seven from behind the arc.

Indoor Track

Adam Scalesse won the 55 meter hurdles and was part of the winning 4x400 relay team as Coast Guard captured the season-opening Coast Guard Winter Invitational.

The Bears won with 171.5 points edging Rhode Island College (166). Merchant Marine was third (135) while placed fourth with 102.5 points.

Scalesse won the 55 meter hurdles (8.05), Jordan Lee won the mile (4:39.31), Ben Wolhaupter won the pole vault (3.85 meters), Ian Ashner won the weight throw (13.5 meters), and Bryan Ayotte captured the shot put (13.27 meters).

The Bears 4x400 team of Trevor Auth, Kelcey Smith, Joe Kelly and Scalesse won with a time of 3:34.10.

In the women's competition, the Coast Guard also won the invitational as Beth Gollin won both the 800 meters and the mile. The Bears won with 181 points while Rhode Island College was second with 131 points followed by Connecticut College (123) and Merchant Marine (75).

Gollin won the mile (5:27.88) and the 800 meters (2:29.68) while Abby Bishop won the 55 meter hurdles (9.43), Meghan Kalinowski won the 3,000 meters (11:19.02) and Emily Trudeau won the shot put (11.69 meters) for Coast Guard.

Bishop was also second in the high jump (1.42 meters) while Hannah Seeland was second in both the weight throw (13.38) and the shot put (11.05).

Wrestling

Freshman Nate Giorgio, ranked first in New England at 125 pounds, registered a pin in the final bout of final match of the afternoon as Coast Guard picked up its first win of the season beating WPI 24-18 after losing to Western New England 24-21 earlier in the day.

WPI led the Bears 18-12 before Joel Wyman recorded a pin in 4:07 to tie the match 18-18. Giorgio then gave the Bears the win with a 3:23.

Mike Giorgio won a 6-5 decision at 149 pounds, Colin Schuster won 7-2 at 157 pounds, Kevin Koch won 7-4 at 174 pounds and Mark Howard won 3-0 at 197 pounds for the Bears in the win.

In the first match, the 24-21 loss to Western New England Nate Giorgio recorded a pin in just 56 seconds.

Mike Giorgio won 8-5 at 149 pounds, Schuster registered a pin in just 1:09 at 157 pounds, Koch won 4-1 at 174 pounds and Howard recorded a 9-2 decision at 197 pounds for Coast Guard.

WPI beat Western New England 25-18 in the other match of the day.