NEW LONDON, Conn. –
In their second game of the season, both home non-conference battles, the Bears came out victorious over Sarah Lawrence College to improve to 2-0. The Bears are now 4-0 all-time vs Sarah Lawrence. The loss drops the Gryphons to 1-3 early on in their 25-26 campaign.
They will host Amherst College Saturday at 3:00 PM for the first annual John Priesing Game.
Tonight, Coast Guard proved the age-old adage: It's not the size of the Bear in the fight, but the size of the fight in the Bear. Despite being at the severe height disadvantage vs the Gryphons, CGA fought from tip to the final buzzer, and even managed out-rebound Sarah Lawrence 40-38 and out-block them 5-3.
Despite ultimately winning by a comfortable margin, the game did not start the way the Bears wanted. They fell down 5-0 early, forcing a coach Jaskiewicz timeout less than two minutes into action. Out of that timeout, CGA took off to score the next six points and take their first lead. For the remainder of the first half, the Bears and Gryphons would exchange blows and trade the lead six more times with three ties mixed in. The biggest moment in the first came when
Luke Farrell(Ortley Beach, NJ) put his defender in a blender with a nifty spin move in the post before burying the bucket and sending the CGA crowd into a frenzy.
Trailing 30-29 late in the first half,
Elijah Parent(Bristol, CT) took contact and kissed a layup off the glass, then converted the free throw to give the Bears a 32-30 lead, the last time in the entire game that the lead would trade hands. They would add some cushion to that lead with a
Jordan Frazer(Columbia, SC) made two, and
Trevor Parks(Oldsmar, FL) made three to take a 37-32 lead into the break.
Out of the half,
Colin Huang(Irvine, CA) splashed a three almost immediately to extend the CGA lead and ignite them to take off. They would not let Sarah Lawrence within a possession of the lead the rest of the half and took their first double digit lead with 6:35 remaining on the clock with two
Ashton Kendall(Baltimore, MD) made free throws. In the final seconds, the Gryphons gave a last ditch effort, giving fouls in hopes that the Bears would miss at the line. Fittingly,
Colin Huang was at the line to ice the game with a made free throw and his career high 20th point of the game. In the second, it was the Huang Show. The sophomore guard had 11 points in the half to go with six rebounds, all of which he won the battle for over Gryphons far taller than himself. Huang's seven rebounds in the game tied him for the team high with
Elijah Parent, who added 14 points, and a team high four assists. Joining Huang and Parent in double figures were
Jordan Frazer and
Trevor Parks with 17 and 11 respectively. Parks was great all-around in the game, with three blocks, three rebounds, three assists, and three made three pointers.
As a team the Bears had six steals, with freshman
Ashton Kendall leading the squad with two. Coast Guard held the advantage in shooting, with the higher field goal percentage(45.6 - 32.3) and three point percentage(33.3 - 25.8). The Bears were also better on the charity line, with Sarah Lawrence missing nine free throws(19-28) to six(20-26) from CGA.
The 2-0 Bears will look to continue their strong play into the weekend with the annual Cadet-Mariner Classic. The Bears will face City College of New York Friday at 7:30 at Mitchell College before hosting Westfield State Saturday at 3:00 PM back home in Alumni Gymnasium. Anyone looking for an appetizer to those games can enjoy Mitchell College vs Westfield State on Friday at 3:30 PM at Mitchell and Mitchell vs CCNY Saturday at 1:00 PM at Coast Guard.
