Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior Packy Witkowski had a team-high 29 points while sophomore Garrett Drummond added 23 points as fifth-seeded Coast Guard upset top-seeded Springfield, the No. 1 in New England and the 14th ranked team in the nation 88-82 to earn a spot in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship game for the first time since 2008.
The Bears, who have won six straight, even their record at 13-13 with the NEWMAC tournament semifinal while the Pride fall to 22-4 and wait for a potential at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.
Coast Guard will play at second-seeded WPI in the NEWMAC tournament championship on Sunday at 1:00. The Bears beat top-seeded WPI in both the 2007 and 2008 NEWMAC tournament championship games, the only two NEWMAC championships for the Bears. Coast Guard advanced to the Elite 8 in 2008.
Noah Baldez added 19 points while Tyler Perez finished with 11 points in the win for the Bears.
National Player of the Year candidate Jake Ross had 30 of his game-high 44 points in the second half while adding 13 rebounds for Springfield. Heath Post had a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards.
Coast Guard was without senior Justin Kane, who sustained an injury in the quarterfinal win over Emerson on Wednesday night.
The Pride swept the Bears during the regular season winning 94-82 in New London and 105-99 in and epic double overtime game at Springfield.
Coast Guard shot 51.6 percent (33-64) in the win while making two of 12 from behind the arc. The Pride were 30 of 69 (43.5 percent) and hit eight of 28 from 3-point range.
The Bears led 35-31 at the break and held a 67-59 lead following a trey by Witkowski with 7:09 left.
The Pride would not go quietly scoring six straight to make the score 67-65 with 4:53 remaining.
Witkowski knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:16 left giving the Bears a 72-67 lead. A Ross trey with 1:49 left cut the deficit to 76-74.
Baldez would knock down six straight free throws, the final two with 55 seconds left, holding the Pride to just one free throw in that stretch, as the Bears pushed the lead to 82-75.
Witkowski's two free throws with eight seconds left iced the game making the final 88-82.
Springfield raced out to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game and led 13-2 on a Ross layup with 15:34 left in the opening half before the Bears punched back scoring 12 straight taking a 14-13 lead on a layup by Drummond with 12:05 left.
The Bears led by as many as five at 20-15 on a layup by Drummond with 9:54 left in the half and Coast Guard held a 35-31 lead at halftime. The teams were a combined 1-15 from behind the arc in the first half as Springfield was one for 10 while the Bears missed all five attempts.
Drummond led the Bears with 16 first half points while Ross had a team-high 14 for the Pride.
