NEW LONDON, Conn. – Coast Guard overcame a very slow start erasing a 17-point first half deficit to beat Fisher 92-21 in overtime the opening round of the Camel/Cadet Classic at the Luce Fieldhouse on the campus of Connecticut College.
The Bears trailed 21-4 to start the game and led 78-69 with 5:41 left only to see Kyle Holmes (Hamden, Conn.) hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime tied 82-82.
Alvarez scored the first six points of overtime giving the Bears an 88-82 lead after hitting a trey with 4:08 left.
Coast Guard led 92-89 following another hoop by Alvarez with 47 seconds left, he had eight of the Bears ten points in overtime.
The Bears led 92-91 and following a pair of missed free throws with 5.9 second left, Darrell Grady's (Staten Island, New York) 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good as the Bears escaped with the win to improve to 4-1 overall for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Fisher drops to 2-3.
Freshman Ethan Boose added 14 points and a career-high ten rebounds to register his first career double-double while junior Adrian Chuquillangui added 13 points in the win. Senior Mark Krebs led the Bears with a career-high tying 11 rebounds to go with eight points. Sophomore Micah Baldez had a career-high seven assists.
The Bears shot 41.3 percent in the win (31 of 75) while making 11 of 30 from behind the arc. Fisher was 31 of 75 from the floor (41.3 percent) and made 9 of 28 from 3-point range.
Coast Guard used an early 13-0 second half run capped on senior Ricky Rodriguez's 3-pointer to open up a 48-42 lead with 16:48 left in the game. It was the first shot of the season for Rodriguez, who made his season debut after offseason surgery.
Fisher would answer with a 12-2 run to take a 54-50 lead with 13:51 left before Alvarez knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bears a 56-54 lead with 13:13 remaining.
Freshman Luke Daniels knocked down a 3-pointer with 8:16 left to give the Bears their largest lead of the game to that point 70-63.
Alvarez had an old fashion 3-point play giving Coast Guard its largest lead, 78-69 with 5:41 left.
The Falcons would however score ten of the next 12 cutting the deficit to one, 80-79, on a pair of free throws by Tyler Shular (Norwalk, Conn.) with 45.1 seconds left.
Coast Guard would turn the ball over and following a missed 3-pointer, Alvarez would knock down a pair of free throws with 8.4 seconds left for an 82-79 lead.
Fisher knocked down five 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes and the Bears made just one field goal as the Falcons jumped out to a 21-4 lead with 12:10 left in the first half.
Coast Guard would break out of the early game funk by scoring nine straight to pull to within 21-13 on a basket by Alvarez with 10:38 left in the half.
The Falcons would score seven straight to push the lead back to 28-13 with 8:55 left before the Bears responded with a 13-2 spurt cutting the deficit to 30-26 following a layup sophomore Darius Adams with 4:38 left.
Fisher would push it back to ten by scoring six straight for a 36-26 lead, but again the Bears answered scoring nine of the final 13 points of the half to trail 40-35 at the break.
Coast Guard was 12 of 35 from the floor (34.3 percent) in the first half making 3 of 13 from behind the arc while Fisher was 15 of 33 from the field (45.5 percent) while hitting 5 of 12 from 3-point range in the opening half.
Coast Guard will host Maine-Presque Isle at 4:00 tomorrow on the second day of the Camel/Cadet Classic. Conn. College will take on Fisher in the first game at 2:00 at the Coast Guard Academy.