Box Score  

NEW LONDON -- Sophomore guard Elijah Jean-Guillaume (New Haven) came off the bench late in the first half and had a hand in four consecutive baskets and the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team  survived several anxious moments down the stretch, sealing the win by sinking six free throws in the final minute in holding off the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to record a 57-48 victory and win the Cadet/Mariner Classic Saturday at Roland Hall.
 
Eastern (5-0) had scored 11 straight points after turnovers helped Coast Guard (2-2) score the first two buckets of the game but led by only two when Jean-Guillaume came off the bench to ignite a final push that gave the Warriors a seven-point, 35-28 halftime lead.
 
Having played just 16 minutes in three appearances off the bench this year, Jean-Guillaume immediately stole the ball against Coast Guard and sank a three-pointer to make it 25-20 with just under three minutes left in the half. A minute later, he grabbed an offensive rebound and fed junior guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) – named to the all-tournament team -- for a three-pointer field that gave Eastern a six-point edge, 28-22. Less than a minute later, the 6-foot-3 inch Jean-Guillaume scored inside off a Dao steal, and after Dao sank one of two free throws, Jean-Guillaume swished a jumper off a pass from junior point guard Michael Carothers (Queens, NY) as the Warriors opened up a seven-point lead with 65 seconds left in the half.
 
Coming off an eight-point win over previously unbeaten Mitchell College in the first round of the tournament Friday night at the Yarnall Athletic Center, Eastern turned the ball over on its first three possessions against Coast Guard, which was coming off Friday night's narrow (86-83) win over winless Mass College of Liberal Arts in a game where it led by 12 with six minutes left.
 
Down quickly by four Saturday, Eastern got points from four different players over three minutes to take a seven-point, 11-4 lead. Junior forward Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) hit a jumper, Dao connected on his seventh three-point field goal of the tournament, sophomore guard Cedrick Similien (Norwich) contributed his only two buckets of the half with jumpers, and junior forward Julian Sanchez (Willimantic) – named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player -- scored inside to make it 11-4 five minutes into the contest.
 
Eastern led throughout after Dao's go-ahead three-pointer in the opening minutes but nearly wasted an eight-point lead midway though the second half. Coast Guard, which shot just 28.8 percent from the floor (2-of-21 from distance), had several opportunities to tie or take the lead, but never could. Down by one with four minutes left, the Bears missed the front end of a one-and-one and a minute later missed a potential game-tying three-pointer.
 
Carothers came up with one of the biggest plays of the game with Eastern clinging to a 49-46 lead when he stole the ball and hit a driving layup with two minutes left that made it 51-46. Moments after Dao's potential game-sealing three-pointer was off the mark, Coast Guard scored to make it 51-48 with 79 seconds left, but Sanchez, Dao and Similien all converted free throws in the final 52 seconds to preserve the win.
 
The top defensive team in the Little East Conference, Eastern improved that mark to 56.0 after holding Coast Guard 24 points under its season average.

 Sanchez led Eastern with 12 points (4-of-5 FT) and eight rebounds without a turnover in 32 minutes. Dao had nine points and four assists and four assists, Hamblin eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots and sophomore guard Pedro Perry (New London) eight points. In the tournament, Sanchez averaged 18.0 points and 8.5 rebounds with six total assists and only three turnovers in 67 minutes. He shot 66.7 percent from the floor (2-of-2 from distance) and was 6-of-7 from the stripe. Dao averaged 15.5 points and 6.5 rebounds with eight assists. He was 8-of-15 from distance and canned three of four free throws.
 
Coast Guard season scoring leader Luke Farrell had a game-high 19 points as the Bears' only double-figure scorer but as the team's rebounding leader this year, he managed only two.  Cameron Brown of Coast Guard grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
The victory gives Eastern its third 5-0 start in the last eight years under 23^rd-year head coach Bill Geitner. The last time it won its first five games, in 2018-19, Eastern finished 20-7. The Warriors play the final of six season-opening road games Tuesday at Connecticut College' (2-2)  before opening its home and Little East Conference season Dec. 4 against the University of Southern Maine at 7:30 p.m. at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium. Conn is coming off Saturday's 90-54 home win over the University of Hartford. The Camels dropped a 59-54 decision to visiting Coast Guard this past Wednesday.
 
The Warriors hold a 22-11 advantage in the all-time series with Conn but have dropped the last two after capturing ten of 12, including a 72-55 last year at Geissler Gym when the Camels scored 20 points off Eastern 17 turnovers and outrebounded the Warriors by ten.