NEW LONDON, Conn. –

Something had to give this afternoon in the final game of the Cadet-Mariner Classic with both Coast Guard and Westfield State entering the day undefeated. Had the NCAA decided that college basketball games would be 42 minutes instead of 40, the Bears very well could be 4-0 right now. Instead, they dropped their first game of the season despite the outstanding comeback effort in the second half. The win for Westfield State improves them to 4-0 to start the season. They will have the Thanksgiving week off from games before they host Emmanuel College on Wednesday December 3rd at 7:30 PM.

When the game tipped off, it did not seem likely that Coast Guard would be the team to need a heroic comeback, with the Bears jumping out 8-1 and forcing an early Westfield timeout. Out of that break, the Owls had a fire lit under them. They scored 18 of the next 28, and 45 of the next 65 points to head into halftime with an 18 point lead. At the half, CGA had just 28 points and were shooting under 20% from beyond the arc. 

As the second got under way, the Bears started scoring but Westfield did not take their foot off the gas. The Owls extended their lead to a game high 24 points with just over 12 remaining. With a seemingly comfortable lead, Westfield went into cruise control and the Bears started to chip away. The first hurdle was cleared with 10:28 to go when Colin Huang(Irvine, CA) found Christian Rodgers(Linwood, NJ) open for three to cut the Bear deficit under 20. Just over a minute later, an Elijah Parent(Bristol, CT) three pointer brought the Owl lead to under 15. The Coast Guard second half comeback was made possible by their stellar performance from beyond the arc, shooting 45% as a team. 

With just under four minutes remaining, a feat that seemed impossible just 10 minutes earlier, came to fruition when Jordan Frazer(Columbia, SC) sank two free throws to bring the Bear deficit to single digits. As the game neared its final minute, and the Coast Guard crowd on their feet, the senior big man Luke Farrell(Ortley Beach, NJ) took over. On consecutive possessions, Farrell made a layup on a nifty move in the paint, then forced an offensive foul on the Owls most explosive player to foul him out of the game, then assisted Elijah Parent on a layup to bring the score to 80-74. After the teams exchanged misses, Farrell was again the facilitator and found Trevor Parks(Clearwater, FL) with just enough space beyond the arc to bury the three and make it a one possession game with 1:19 remaining. 

On their possession following the made three by CGA, Westfield allowed the clock to trickle under under 60 seconds before sophomore guard Jason James(Ansonia, CT) barreled his way to the hoop with the shot clock winding down and got stuffed by Farrell, sending the Coast Guard faithful into a frenzy. That crowd would be silenced however, when a late and highly controversial foul was called on Ferrell to put James at the line. James sank both and finished 7-7 from the charity strip with 29 points overall. Following the free throws, Coast Guard simply ran out of time, ultimately falling by a score of 85-79.

Luke Farrell was all over for the Bears today. Fighting foul trouble and the Owls 6-7 center Joe Thomson(Sunderland, MA), Farrell had 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocks. The Bears leader in points on the afternoon was Trevor Parks with 20, 15 of which came from beyond the arc. Senior guard Elijah Parent scored 14 and was second on the team in assists with five behind Colin Huang who had seven.

Coast Guard had two bursts of energy come off the bench tonight with Christian Rodgers and Tyler Henderson(Fayetteville, NC). The two combined to go 4-5 from three with six rebounds and were instrumental to the Bears comeback.

Coast Guard, now 3-1, will have the next week off before starting NEWMAC play with a home game vs Emerson College on Wednesday December 3rd at 5:30 PM.