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WORCESTER, Mass. --- Coast Guard won its first-ever NEWMAC Tournament title and earned its first trip to the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championships, as the seventh-seeded Bears upset the top-seeded WPI Engineers 71-66 at Harrington Auditorium on Sunday afternoon.

The Bears (14-13) victory snapped WPI’s chances of making it three NEWMAC men’s titles in a row. The Engineers fall to 22-3. The pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced later tonight with WPI expected to receive one of 18 at-large bids.

In such a close, well-played defensive game, it was assured that this one would go right down to the last second.  There were 20 lead changes in this game, including five in the last three minutes.

With 2:30 remaining and the Engineers trailing by one, Adam Lirette (Dover, NH) missed a 3-pointer that would give WPI a two-point lead. But the quick-thinking guard was able to dash into the paint to corral the rebound and put it up and in to give WPI a 62-61 lead.

After the teams traded turnovers, Coast Guard’s Jeff Prebeck (Columbus, IN) came back the other way and used a short babyhook to reclaim the lead for the Bears.

Ryan Cain (Webster, MA) came right back down and gave WPI the lead, but Steve Blum (Farmington, CT) got his own rebound on the next trip and put it up and in while being fouled.  He calmly sank the freebie to complete the old fashioned three-point play, giving Coast Guard a 66-64 lead, a lead it would not relinquish.

Cain then lofted a 3-point attempt from the nearside corner, but it caromed off the side of the iron and into the hands of Eric Hudson (Altadena, CA), who was immediately fouled with 35 seconds left. He hit his two free throws to make it 68-64. Cain would be fouled six seconds later by Prebeck as he went toward the hoop, and he hit both shots for the final WPI points.

For Coast Guard, Al Sowers (Monrovia, MD) had a game-high 23 points, shooting 4-of-8 from 3-point land. Blum added 14, while Grant Johnson (Grayson, GA) added 11.

For WPI, Cain led the team with 19 points and five assist while Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA) scored 18 points. Lirette also had five assists for the Engineers.