New London, CT- The Men's Basketball team was faced with a tough task tonight as they were playing their third game in five days, and coming off a flight across the country on Sunday. The Falcons (3-7) headed back on the road to take on the undefeated Coast Guard Academy Bears (5-0) who hadn't played since November 18. The week long rest paid off for the home team as their fresh legs defeated Fisher 91-70.
USCGA jumped out to an early lead as they were up 16-4 at the 15:21 mark, capped by a 3-point shot by Bears Jason Frazer. The Falcons answered with the next five points as Ville Milan (Turku, Finland) hit his own three to bring his team back to 16-9. The Bears led by as many as 13 over the next seven minutes of play, but Fisher would stay close and would get within six with 4:37 on the clock on the first half on a 3-pointer from Chris Sorapuru (Temecula, CA) to bring the score to 38-32. Coast Guard felt the pressure of the Falcons and would respond with an 18-3 run to close out the half, putting the Bears up 55-35 heading to the locker room.
The 18-3 run proved to be the difference in the contest as the second half was back and forth with USCGA outscoring Fisher by just one, 36-35 in the last 20 minutes, however Fisher could not overcome the 50% shooting from the Bears in the first half and suffered their fourth straight loss.
Sorapuru tallied his first double-double of his career as a Falcon as he came off the bench and had 11 points and 11 rebounds on 4 for 8 shooting. Brandon Rembert (Camden, NJ) led the Falcons in scoring with another 14 points to go along with nine rebounds as he continues his strong senior campaign. Jhalen Lumpkins (Sacramento, CA) was the other Falcon to score in double digits, netting 11 and grabbing five rebounds as well. Abrian Dickson made a solid contribution off the bench for Coach Blouin as he had seven points and five rebounds in just 15 minutes of play.
Coast Guard was led by Nolan Benson who had a game-high 20 points, while Tyler Perez added 18 points for the Bears.
The Falcons will look to break up the four-game losing skid as they play host to the College of Saint Joseph (VT), a team they lost to previously this season 82-73. They will look to avenge the loss at 7pm at the Fecteau-Leary Gymnasium in Lynn, MA.