Worcester, Mass. – Andrew Musler (Belmont, Mass.) had another monster performance and host Clark University knocked off Coast Guard Academy, 71-62, in New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Thursday evening.

The win for the Cougars is their third straight and moves their overall record to 12-8 – equaling their win total from a season ago. For the Bears, who have dropped four of their last five, the defeat drops its record to 5-15 overall and 2-7 in league play.

The opening 20 minutes of the game was a back and forth affair with two ties and seven lead changes until Clark took the lead for good on a Musler jumper to make the score 22-21 with less than seven minutes left to play.

The lead for the Cougars was still at one when they went on a 7-0 burst as the half wound down courtesy of a three-point play by Musler, a Nicholas DaPrato (Marshfield, Mass.) fast break finish and a Lucas LaLima (Colts Neck, N.J.) coast to coast basket. Coast Guard trimmed the lead to six on a Devonte Weems (Chesapeake Beach, Md.) basket, sending the teams into halftime with a 38-32 score.

Clark saw its lead extend to 13 at 49-36 on back-to-back three-pointers from Tyler Huffman (East Hartford, Conn.) and Lamar Berk (Saint Augustine, Fla.) but the Bears clawed back, getting as close as six (51-46) after a three from Adrian Chuquillangui (Manassas, Va.) and free throws from both Ricky Rodriguez (Caracas, Venezuela) and Mark Krebs (Ballwin, Mo.).

The Cougars, however, put the game away with a 13-4 run over a six minute span as Musler and Berk each had inside hoops and Huffman canned a pair of triples and Jake Gubitose (Fiskdale, Mass.) dropped in a three of his own, pushing the lead to 65-49 with a little less than six minutes to play.

Coast Guard made one final push, getting the Clark lead down to 12 on a Ryan McNeil (Plymouth, Ind.) three, but in the end the Cougars held on for a key league win.

The Bears shot just 39 percent from the field for the game, including just 36 percent (9-for-25) in the final 20 minutes. They did however, commit just eight turnovers, outscore the Cougars in the paint (30-26) and get 31 points from their bench.

Clark won the battle of the boards (39-33), shot 43 percent from the field, handed out 15 assists and connected on nine three-pointers.

Weems paced Coast Guard with 15 points and 11 rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting, while Kevin Alvarez (Key Biscayne, Fla.) came off the bench to finish with ten points and John Bendict (Cumming, Ga.) added seven points and six boards.

Musler, meanwhile, was the star of the game, recording his eighth double-double of the season, totaling 23 points and a career-high 16 rebounds while shooting 8-for-14 from the field. He now has three double-doubles in his last four games and five in his last seven.

Huffman added 14 points off the bench for the Cougars in just 20 minutes on 5-for-10 shooting and Berk was strong off the bench as well, totaling seven points and three rebounds in 12 minutes of court action.

Clark (3-6 NEWMAC) will return to action on Saturday with a crucial road contest at Emerson College, while the Bears will look to return to the win column on Saturday as well when they host MIT.