Coast Guard Advances to NEWMAC Men's Basketball Title Game
Coast Guard 68, Wheaton 56 - NEWMAC Tournament - Semifinal #2
Worcester, MA --- Senior Jeff Prebeck (Columbus, IN) had 26 points to lead the third-seeded and defending New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) champion Coast Guard Academy men's basketball team to a 68-56 come-from-behind victory over seventh-seeded Wheaton College in a NEWMAC tournament semifinal round game played at Harrington Auditorium on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, Coast Guard (20-6) advances to tomorrow's title game for the second straight year. Wheaton concludes its season at 13-12.
WPI, the top-seed, advanced to the championship round with a 60-59 victory over Babson in the other semifinal contest. Sunday's game is a rematch of last year's NEWMAC championship, where Coast Guard defeated WPI, 71-66.
In addition to Prebeck, junior Craig Johnson (Medford, OR) was the other double-figure scorer with 23 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Wheaton was led by freshmen Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA) with 15 points; Ryan Sasso (Peabody, MA) with 14 points and Bobby Perry (East Providence, RI) with seven boards.
After five ties and five lead changes, Nick Michel's (Hyde Park, MA) jumper gave Wheaton a one-point lead (22-21) at the 9:55 mark.
Neither team scored over the next 2:48 until Coast Guard regained the lead (23-22) on a lay-up from Jevon James (St. Thomas VI) and then pushed its advantage to 26-22 on four straight points from Johnson at 4:57. However, the Lyons closed the half on a 14-0 run highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Sasso and Coppola for a 36-26 halftime advantage.
Wheaton shot 53.6% from the field, to Coast Guard's 32.1% in the half. 7:45 in the second.
Coast Guard chipped away at a 12-point deficit (38-26) with a 20-7 run and took a 46-45 lead - its first advantage since the first half - on a lay-in by Prebeck with 7:45 left to play. The Bears pushed their margin up to as many as nine on two occasions, but Wheaton closed the gap to within six both times. A free-throw by Sasso at 3:23 brought the Lyons to within 51-57 and Coppola's trey at 2:48 made it 54-60, but Wheaton would get no closer. Coast Guard scored six of the final 10 points at the charity stripe to account for the final score.