Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy men's basketball team finished their season Saturday when a loss to WPI knocked them out the the NEWMAC championships. In the indoor track competition, a senior broke his own school record at the weekend's All-New England Championship. The following information was provided by the Coast Guard Academy Athletic Department:

Men's Basketball: WPI 62, Coast Guard 51

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, ranked 12th nationally, used a 12-3 run late in the game as the top-seeded and host Engineers beat fifth-seeded Coast Guard 62-51 in the semifinals of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament.

The Engineers improve to 22-4 overall while the Bears finish the season 11-14.

Senior Jevon James pulled the Bears to within two at 48-46 with 6:30 left, but Coast would only score one more hoop the rest of the way, a bucket by James with 19 seconds left. WPI scored six straight to push the lead to 54-46 with 2:37 left and the Engineers were a perfect six-for-six from the foul line in the final 44 seconds to wrap up the game.

WPI opened up a nine-point lead, 42-33 on a basket by senior Jeff Robinson with 11:49 left, but the Bears responded with a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to 44-42 on a hoop by sophomore Jimmy Knudsen with 8:41 remaining.

Junior Matt Carr led four WPI players in double figures with 15 points. Sophomore Joe Wesoloski had career-highs with 11 points and eight rebounds.

James and sophomore Greg Marshall each had 19 points to lead the Bears while freshman Devonte Weems had a team-high six rebounds. James was nine for ten from the field while Marshall connected on nine of 14 from the floor.

WPI took its largest lead of the first half on a dunk by Carr with 1:36 left for a 27-21 lead. Coast Guard’s biggest lead of the half was four as James scored the first two baskets of the game and later the Bears used back-to-back buckets from Marshall for a 13-9 edge with 11:07 left in the first half. Carr then scored three straight hoops as WPI regained the lead for good in the first half 15-13 with 8:36 remaining.

Coast Guard was 11-29 from the floor (37.9 percent) in the first half and made just one of nine from 3-point range while WPI shot 34.5 percent from the field (10-29) and made just two of ten from behind the arc.

Carr led WPI with 11 first half points while Marshall led the Bears with ten points off the bench and James, who picked up two fouls and played just seven minutes, had eight points on four-of-four shooting from the field. Marshall and James were a combined nine-for-11 from the floor in the first half while the rest of the team was two for 18.

Coast Guard shot 44.2 percent from the floor (23-52) but made just one of 12 from 3-point range. WPI finished 21-59 from the field (35.6 percent) and made only three of 19 from behind the arc.

James closes out his career as the Bears’ all-time leader with 148 blocked shots and he is eighth all-time at the Academy with 678 rebounds.

Indoor Track

The Coast Guard Academy had a strong showing at the the All-New England Championship consisting of athletes from Divisions I, II and III hosted by Boston University.

Senior Carl Luxhoj surpassed his own triple jump record of 47 feet, 5 inches set just last weekend with a new school record mark of 48 feet, 3.25 inches. Luxhoj’s record breaking jump placed him second in the competition, to earn All-New England honors, and was an automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

Luxhoj also competed in the long jump where he finished 15th with a best mark of 21 feet, 4 inches.

In the 60 meter hurdles, freshman Adam Scalesse placed 10th in the field of 29 competitors. His trials time of 8.47 was a personal record and qualified him for the semifinals where he ran a 8.55.

Sophomore Tieran Bonner finished 14th in the 60 meters after running 7.11 in trials and then coming back in the semifinals to post a finishing time of 7.18.

In the distance events, junior Trevor Siperek and senior Nate Crum competed in the 3000 meters with season best times of 8:41.62 and 8:49.95 respectively.

Other CGA performances included senior John Jaskot clearing six feet, two inches in the high jump, senior Jordan Kellam in the pole vault 14 feet 1.25 inches, senior Kyle Coleman in the 400 meters running 50.64, and senior Devin Adams in the weight throw with a toss of 49 feet, one inch.

On the woman's side, freshman Elizabeth Flint was the top Coast Guard finisher. Flint competed in the triple jump and posted a mark of 35 feet, 1.75 inches.