WESTON, Mass. – The United States Coast Guard Academy captured the 2014 Moe's Queso Classic with a 59-47 over host Regis College on Saturday afternoon in men's basketball action in Weston, Mass. Coast Guard improves to 3-1 on the year and has won three-straight games. The Pride had their four game winning streak snapped and drop to 4-1.
The Bears' Kevin Alvarez (Key Biscayne, Fla.) was named the Tournament MVP after scoring 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the Championship game. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by David Anderson (Goose Creek, S.C.), who posted a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Regis had a pair of players named to the All-Tournament Team in Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Jordan Monts (Springfield, Mass.). Thomas' Levi Barnes (Skowhegan, Maine) and Framingham State's Tim McCarthy (Wilmington, Mass.) rounded out the All-Tournament selections.
The Pride jumped out to an early 6-2 lead on a layup by Peana and he later extended it to an 8-4 advantage with a jumper on a feed from Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Mass.). Eli Sponseller (North Pole, Ak.) connected on back-to-back threes to grab Coast Guard's first lead of the game at 10-9 with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half.
Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.) gave the Pride the lead back with four-straight freethrows to make it a 13-10 game, but a quick 8-0 spurt from the Bears made it an 18-13 advantage for Coast Guard following a layup from Alvarez. Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Conn.) answered on the other end for Regis, but Ricky Rodriguez (Caracas, Venezuela) connected on a jumper, sparking a 9-0 run by the visitors, to take a 27-15 lead with just under two minutes to play.
Jordan Monts would score the final points of the half, knocking down a corner jumper as the shot clock expired, and the Pride entered the break trailing 27-17.
Alvarez scored 13 points in the opening period to lead Coast Guard, while Jean-Gilles and Peana had six points apiece for Regis.
Two quick baskets for Regis out of the half cut the deficit to six, but a three from Alvarez and a jumper from Anderson pushed their cushion back to 11 at 32-21. A pair of David Anderson freethrows at the 13:18 mark made it a 39-26 game, but the Pride would not go away quietly, stringing together six-straight points capped off by a Peana layup that made it 39-32 with 9:38 to play.
Coast Guard responded with a 14-0 run to stretch their lead out to 53-32 as Anderson and Avierre Connor (Avon Park, Fla.) each scored four points during the run. The Pride turned up the pressure and used an 8-0 run to get the deficit back to 13 points with 3:03 to play. A steal and fastbreak layup from Monts nearly two minutes later cut the deficit to 54-46, but the Bears knocked down 5-of-6 freethrows down the stretch to hang on for the 59-47 win.
The Bears outrebounded Regis, 43-30, but the Pride were able to win the turnover battle, 19-11. Regis struggled from the field, shooting 16-of-52 (30.8%) from the floor, and going 0-for-15 from beyond the arc.
Sam Jean-Gilles finished the night with 11 points and three rebounds, while Monts chipped in 11 points and a pair of steals. Ethan Peana finished with eight points and four rebounds. Jeff Tagger Jr. scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Pride.
Eli Sponseller and Ricky Rodriguez each finished with seven points, and combined for eight rebounds on the night for Coast Guard.
The Crimson and Gold return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Eastern Nazarene College for a 6:00 p.m. non-league matchup with the Lions. Coast Guard will try to make it four-straight wins when they travel to Salve Regina University on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. game.