NEW LONDON, Conn.  -  The Coast Guard Academy men's basketball team opened conference play on the right foot with a 74-65 win over the Emerson Lions today. Coming out of halftime in a 14-point hole, the Bears outscored the visitors by 23 points in the second half and held them to 6-31 (19.8%) overall shooting and 1-15 (6.7%) on three-pointers to earn the victory.

The result breaks Emerson's three-game win streak and puts Coast Guard back above .500 as their record improves to 4-3. The Lions were riding high after a win in their own NEWMAC opener this past Wednesday over reigning league champions Babson; now they'll be looking to get back on track as they look ahead to non-conference action, hosting the 4-4 Bridgewater State Bears this upcoming Tuesday.

Coast Guard found themselves trailing 45-31 at halftime to a Lions team that featured seven international players on its roster. The Bears were doing a great job at limiting grad student guard Trevor Arico (Saline, Mich.), the Lions leading scorer going into the game, who had just two points on free throws while going 0-6 from the field. Junior guard and second-option Jacob Armant (Arlington, Tex.) had a hot hand, leading his team with 14 points on 5-6 from the field and 4-5 on three-pointers; on Coast Guard's side, senior guard Ben Yagey (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) led the Bears with 12 points.

Emerson shot an efficient 16-29 (55.2%) on all attempts and 8-14 (57.1%) on threes. Coast Guard couldn't keep up, shooting 11-28 (39.3%) from the field and 4-10 (40.0%) from long range. The Bears were also hurt heavily by turnovers in the half, as the visitors scored 21 of their points on 11 lost possessions.

The Bears would come out of the break inspired, rattling off a sizzling 16-2 rally to open the second half and tie the game at 47 with a little less than 14 minutes to go. Sophomore guard Jordan Frazer (Columbia, S.C.) played a big part in the run, draining the bucket that kicked it off and stalling Emerson's attempts to shake off the rust with two steals, one of which he drove down the court for a fastbreak layup. Frazer was also credited with an assist after a successful three-pointer by junior forward Luke Farrell (Ortley, N.J.), who later scored the tying bucket.

The teams traded blows until a little over three minutes remaining. Emerson junior seven-footer Linus Helmhold (Krefeld, Germany) drained an and-one free throw to put his team up 61-60. Senior guard Declan Rooney (Seattle, Wash.) responded with a clutch three-pointer to put the Bears back up by two. It was all in Coast Guard's hands from then on as Emerson missed their next two attempts before Yagey hit a mid-range jumper to put the home team up 66-61. Another pair of missed jumpers sent the Lions into foul mode with 45 seconds remaining, but Coast Guard would close out the game by 8-10 from the charity stripe.

Yagey finished the game with 25 points, matching his career-high performance vs. MCLA on November 22nd; he also tallied four steals, just one off from his record on November 8th last season at Sarah Lawrence. Farrell scored 17 on an efficient 5-7 from the field, which included a 3-3 night from deep, while junior guard Elijah Parent (Bristol, Conn.) scored 14 points. Despite a quiet shooting night, Rooney led the team with 12 rebounds, finishing one away from his best number at last season's match-up at Babson on January 18th. Rooney also contributed seven assists, bringing his career total to 191 and jumping him over Stefan Lewis '10 (now 20th, 188) and Luke Daniels '19 (now 21st, 186) for the 19th-most in program history.

Coast Guard slowed down Armant greatly in the second half as he went 1-7 in the final 20 minutes and finished with 17 points. Arico was unable to get it going, finishing 0-11 from the field with five points on free throws. Behind Armant in scoring was senior guard Lucas Brenner (Miami, Fla.) with 13.

Next up for the Bears is non-conference action vs. the Gryphons of Sarah Lawrence College on Wednesday, December 11th. Sarah Lawrence is 4-4 following their 65-57 win earlier today over the Centenary Cyclones. Coast Guard prevailed in last year's season-opening match-up, 70-57, and Yagey was the scoring leader in that game as well, pouring in 18 points while proving a defensive nightmare for the Gryphons, finishing the night with five of the Bears' 17 steals.