NEW LONDON, Conn. – Senior David Anderson scored all 21 of his points in the second half and Coast Guard pulled out 55-54 victory over Roger Williams in its home opener.

Junior Kevin Alvarez hit the game winning basket from the corner with 12 seconds left in the game as Coast Guard improved to 1-1 on the season. Roger Williams drops to 1-2.

Anderson was 8-12 from the field, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range, finishing with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds. Alvarez finished with 15 points and a team high four assists to go with five rebounds.

It was a back and forth game early on in the first half but a jumper from junior Avierre Conner and a three pointer from senior Eli Sponseller gave the Bears a 14-10 lead with 6:54 left in the first half.

Coast Guard looked to go into the second half with a five point lead but freshman Jaylen Jennings spotted up from 30 feet and sunk a three pointer at the buzzer to make the half time score 20-18.

After the Hawks tied the score at the beginning of the second half the Bears went on a 17-5 run to take a 37-25 lead with 13:21 left. The surge was fueled by twelve points from Anderson in just under five minutes.

Coast Guard led 50-38 with 7:03 left on a layup from Alvarez, but Roger Williams would score seven straight capped on a three pointer by Jennings to make to the score 50-45 with 5:32 left.

Junior Ricky Rodriguez's basket with 4:26 left gave Coast Guard a 52-45 lead. The Hawks would however score nine of the next ten taking a 54-53 lead on an old fashioned three point play by senior Ryan Palumbo with 56 seconds left. That was Roger Williams first lead since 10-9 with 10:34 left in the first half.

After the teams traded turnovers on offensive fouls, Alvarez hit the game winner as the Bears the beat the Hawks by one point for the second straight season.

Palumbo led the Hawks with 15 points and four assists while Jennings finished with 12 points.

Coast Guard shot 46.7% from the floor (21-45), including 60.9% in the second half. The Bears were 7-15 from three point range.

Roger Williams was 19-48 from the floor (39.6%), they shot 61.9% in the second half (13-21). The Hawks were 4-19 from three point range in the game. Coast Guard held a slight 30-27 on the boards.

Coast Guard is back in action on Friday night at 7:00 pm versus Framingham State in the Moe's Queso Classic at Regis College.

POST GAME INTERVIEW WITH COAST GUARD HEAD COACH KEVIN JASKIEWICZ