Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy won a men's basketball game against State University of New York Maritime on Saturday and narrowly lost a women's basketball game to Clark University. The Bears also took part in wrestling and swimming competitions. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Men's Basketball: Coast Guard 88, SUNY Maritime 70

Junior Greg Marshall led three Coast Guard players in double figures with 14 points and the Bears used a 13-0 second half run to beat SUNY Maritime 88-70 in the consolation game of the Citizens Bank Camel/Cadet Classic at the Coast Guard Academy.

The Bears improve to 5-2 on the season while the Privateers drop to 1-6 overall.

Coast Guard had its largest lead of the first half at 28-12 with 9:19 remaining and the Bears led 44-34 at the break.

Maritime got back in the game using a 14-4 run early in the second half closing to with 50-48 with 15:13 left in the game, however Coast Guard responded with 13 straight, six of those by junior Jimmy Knudsen, for a 63-48 lead with 10:47 left. The Bears controlled play the rest of the way.

Knudsen and sophomore Devonte Weems each had ten points for Coast Guard while senior Trip Fernandes added nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. Weems, who was named to the All-tournament team, had a career-high seven assists.

Senior Sam Porte led Maritime with a game-high 29 points and 12 rebounds to earn a spot on the All-tournament team. Senior Mike McSloy added 13 points while freshman Louis Lewis finished with ten points for the Privateers.

Coast Guard shot 47.8 percent from the field (33-69) while making six of 15 from 3-point range. Maritime was 26 of 61 (42.6 percent) from the floor while connecting on six of 16 from behind the arc. The Bears outrebounded Maritime 44-31.

Women's Basketball: Clark 65, Coast Guard 64

Down by as many as ten points in the second half, host Clark University rallied for a thrilling 65-64 win over Coast Guard in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Kneller Athletic Center.

With the win, the Cougars extend their winning streak to four games and improve to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in league play, while the Bears drop their second straight to slip to 4-2 as well but 0-2 in conference action.

In a game that featured 22 lead changes and ten ties, Kate Minister converted an inside hoop with seven seconds left to give Clark a one point advantage. The Bears raced down court looking for the go ahead basket, but the Cougars drew an offensive foul with two seconds left to secure the win.

The game started off sloppy for both teams as they combined for 20 first half turnovers. Clark eventually took a five point lead – their biggest of the game – at 22-17 with 2:46 left following a fast break finish from Megan Grondin and a three-pointer from Kelsey Giedymin.

Coast Guard responded and outscored the Cougars 13-6 over the final 2:21, highlighted by three-pointers from Brittany Zimmerman and Alexi Howland and seven points from Victoria Gurtler to go into halftime up, 30-28.

The game was tied at 34-34 a little more than two minutes into the second half when Coast Guard embarked on a 12-2 run powered by eight straight points from Kaitlin Ward to move ahead 46-36 with 13:33 left.

Clark began to slowly chip away as reserve Maggie Croft ignited a Cougar burst finishing on the break off a feed from Emily Reilly and then dropping in a top of the key triple to make the score 46-43.

Reilly then gave the Cougars the lead when she grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast and finished while being fouled to make the score 50-48 with 8:17 remaining.

The lead would change hands 11 times and the score would be tied three more times over the next seven minutes before Ward went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe to give the Bears the 64-63 edge with 1:06 left.

Each team came up empty on their next possessions before Ashleigh Condon found Minister open on the left block and she converted the game-winning score.

Clark’s defense was huge down the stretch as they held Coast Guard without a basket over the final 3:42.

The game was pretty much even and statistics bear that out. Both teams shot close to 40 percent for the game with the Bears right at 40 (24-for-60), and the Cougars a shade under at 39 (25-for-64). Each squad had 11 points off of turnovers and Clark held a slight edge on the glass (39-38).

Ward paced the Bears with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting, including several acrobatic jumpers, while both Jamie Waterman (13 points, ten rebounds) and Gurtler (11 points, ten rebounds) each recorded double-doubles. The 13 points were a career-high for Waterman as she registered her first career double-double.

Grondin, meanwhile, totaled a career-best 18 points for the victors, while Reilly ended with 15 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Giedymin added 12 points and five boards and Condon ended with four points, six rebounds and six assists despite going just 1-for-10 from the floor.

Clark’s winning streak matches their best stretch last year and is the longest since late in the 2008-09 season when they won six straight and finished the season 13-13.

Wrestling

Freshman Nate Giorgio, ranked 7th nationally, won the championship at 125 pounds as the Bears placed ninth at the New Standard Invitational at York College in Pennsylvania.

Coast Guard placed ninth of the 11 teams as the Bears finished with 33 points. Ithaca, ranked fourth nationally won with 107 points. The Invitational featured five teams ranked in the national Top 25 as well as Johnson & Wales, the #1 team in New England.

Giorgio continued his outstanding freshman season by winning all four matches to improve to 14-3 on the season. He won 15-2 then registered a pin in just 52 seconds before winning 7-6 to earn a berth in the championship match. He pinned Tyler Marlow of SUNY Brockport, ranked 9th nationally, in 2:31 to win the championship.

So far this season, Giorgio has won the Roger Williams Invitational, placed second at the Doug Parker Invitational and took fourth at the Messiah Invitational.

Nate’s brother Michael, also a freshman, won three matches, including a pin at 149 pounds for the Bears.

Swimming and Diving

Senior Johnson Knox won a pair of events and was part of a winning relay team as Coast Guard beat rival and host 159-132.

Knox won both the 100 breaststroke (1:00.85) and the 100 freestyle (47.87) and teamed with the senior Dan Beshoar, senior Brian McGuiness and freshman Christian Brindamour to win the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:12.61 as the Bears improved to 5-1 on the season.

Senior Jeff Mistrick won the 1-meter event with 236.10 points while classmate Orlando Morel won the 3-meter board with 236.02 points.

Also for the Bears, junior Kevin Smit won the 200 butterfly (1:57.31) while freshman Derrian Duryea won the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:13.41.

In the women's competition, freshman Sara Cantrell won both diving events, but Coast Guard lost to rival and host Connecticut College 194-102.

Cantrell won both the 1-meter (189.90) and the 3-meter (237.90) diving events for the Bears.

The Bears 400 freestyle relay team of senior Sarah Jane Otey, freshman Caitlyn Gever, freshman Darlene Sao and senior Heidi Gayman won with a time of 3:45.20.

Coast Guard drops to 2-4 on the season.