Coast Guard Holds Off MBB in Second Half

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College men's basketball team dropped a 76-69 decision to cross-town rival Coast Guard on Tuesday night at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Coast Guard's Greg Marshall led all scorers with 25 points while Devonte Weems added 16 points and Kevin Sowers chipped in with 12 off the bench.

Junior Julio Contreras netted 21 points to lead the Mariners (1-4 overall). Classmate Mercury Fiske and freshman Tim Quinn also finished with double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Bears (3-2 overall) never trailed in the game after getting off to a hot start, connecting on their first five field goals to jump out to a 10-2 lead. Coast Guard shot a blistering 61 percent from the floor in the half and led 44-28 at the break.

Mitchell trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half but cut the deficit to six at 60-54 with 7:48 to play. Coast Guard responded with buckets on three straight possessions to push the margin back to double digits. Weems, who was the spark plug for the Bears all game, got things started with a layup and then followed with a pretty behind-the-back feed to Sowers for an easy two. Marshall finished off the run with a fast-break lay-in to make it 66-54 with 5:35 to go.

The Mariners cut the deficit to six with a minute to play, but the Bears sealed the win by going 6-for-9 from the foul line in the final 38 seconds. Mitchell shot 37 percent for the contest and committed 17 turnovers while Coast Guard finished with 48-percent shooting and only 12 miscues.

Mitchell will next play at Albertus Magnus College on Tuesday, November 30 at 7 p.m.