NEW LONDON, Conn.  -  The Coast Guard Academy men's basketball team hosted Eastern Connecticut State University in the closing game of this season's Honey Fitch Cadet-Mariner Classic. The Bears mounted a comeback attempt in the second half, but the Warriors would pull away in the final five minutes to hang on for a 57-48 win.

Junior forward Luke Farrell led Coast Guard's offense with 19 points, while senior big man Cameron Brown blocked nine shots to set the single-game mark among all NCAA players this season. Junior guard Julian Sanchez led Eastern with 12 points.

The loss puts the Academy at 2-2 this season, while the Warriors remain undefeated at 5-0. They'll be coming back to this neck of the woods on Tuesday, November 26th, to face Connecticut College, who are 2-2 after thrashing the University of Hartford, 90-54, earlier today.

The Bears shot 44% (11-25) from the field over the first 20 minutes of play, while ECSU was able to outpace them by shooting 56% (12-25) to take a 35-28 lead into the break. The two teams also had wildly different first halves from beyond the arc as the Warriors shot 57.1% (4-7) on three-point attempts, while Coast Guard had trouble finding their rhythm from deep and shot 11.1% (1-9).

Fans in attendance witnessed the rare double technical foul with about a minute-and-a-half to go. The Bears were called for a personal foul along the baseline, the events of which led to Farrell and Eastern junior guard Dominick Dao exchanging some words before the refs stepped in and issued techs to both of them. Senior guard Declan Rooney drained both free throws for the Academy, while Dao took the Warriors' and made the first but missed the second.

Rooney had nine points and four rebounds at the break to lead the Bears in both categories, while Farrell had eight points and Brown scored six.

Coast Guard's shooting woes from three started affecting their makes from the field in the second half, shooting 17.6% (6-34) overall and 8.3% (1-12) on three-pointers. ECSU also caught the bad shooting bug and shot just 22.6% (7-31) from the field and 20.0% (2-10) from three. Brown played a part in that shift in success by recording eight of his nine blocks in the final 20 minutes.

The Bears went on a 7-0 run to cut the Warriors lead to 47-46 with just under five minutes left to play. Farrell and sophomore guard Jordan Frazer fueled the short burst, with Farrell recording three of the points and Frazer putting in four. Eastern converted a pair of layups to get their lead back up to five before a layup by Farrell with just over a minute remaining got it back to three.

The Academy had to resort to fouling to slow the clock down, but the subsequent makes by the Warriors over the final, coupled with the Bears going 0-4 on three-pointers, allowed ECSU to escape the comeback.

Farrell added two blocks to his stat line, while Brown made his defensive presence even more impactful by pulling down seven of his eight defensive rebounds in the second half. He pulled down four more boards on offense throughout the game to finish the night with 12 rebounds.

Following the game, six players from the four teams (Mitchell College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts also competed) in this year's Classic were selected for post-tournament honors. Rooney and Farrell were the Academy's representatives on the All-Tournament team, alongside Dao. Sanchez was named Most Outstanding Player.

The Bears host Mitchell College in their next game on Tuesday, November 26th, for a 3 p.m. tip-off. Coast Guard is 15-4 vs. the Mariners dating back to the 2005-06 season and won last year's cross-town match-up in enemy territory, 79-63. Senior guard Ben Yagey scored 22 points to lead the Bears alongside junior guard Elijah Parent's 19 points.