NEW LONDON, Conn. – Clark University junior Biko Gayman (Fort Pierce, Fla.) tallied a team-high 22 points, including the 1,000th of his career, as Clark University men's basketball was defeated, 103-77, against Coast Guard Academy in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest Wednesday at the John Merriman Gymnasium. 

The Basics

Score: Bears 103, Cougars 77

Records: Clark University (8-8, 3-2 NEWMAC) | Coast Guard Academy (6-9, 1-4 NEWMAC)

How it Happened

Gayman finished 9-of-19 shooting while logging a game-high five assists and three steals in the conference setback. With his 22 points on the night, Gayman becomes the 28th in the program's history to reach 1,000 career points and just the third with 1,000 points and 300 assists. 

Junior Matthew Waggett (Saugus, Mass.) led all bench scorers for Clark, tying his career-high with 17 points, all coming in the second half while grabbing seven rebounds in 22 minutes of action. Junior Tyler Davern (Webster, Mass.) rounded out those in double-figures for the Cougars with 12 points.

For Coast Guard, senior Noah Baldez posted a game-high 25 points to lead five players in double-figures, while also collecting his 1000th career point during the contest. Senior Packy Witkowski knocked down a game-high five three-pointers to finish with 21 points for the Bears. 

Coast Guard opened the game with a 16-3 scoring run over the first 3:40 as a pair of three-pointers from Tyler Perez and five points from Baldez paced the Bears. The host pushed the margin up to 16 points before a three from Zackary Mittelstadt (Wilton, Maine) and a lay-up from Davern gave the Cougars control of a brief 8-4 scoring spurt.

With 8:57 remaining in the half, Gayman worked on a defender at the elbow before driving the paint and floating the ball over the rim, scoring his 1,000th career point on the play to cut the deficit to 31-18. The Cougars came right back down with a trey from sophomore Joel Arteaga (Wyncote, Pa.) before five unanswered from the host re-upped the ante.

Coast Guard edged Clark by a slight 10-6 margin over the final 5:53 in the half with a dribble pull-up from Mittelstadt just inside the three-point arc marking the final points of the session for the Cougars before heading to the locker room with a 46-30 deficit.

The Bears began the second half with a 10-6 run with three-pointers from sophomore Antonio Lapeyrolerie (Plano, Texas) and Davern providing the points for the Cougars. With 13:35 to play in regulation, the Cougars controlled an 11-4 run with Gayman supplying nine points over the stretch.

Moments later, Waggett took control with the junior scoring 12 straight points for the Cougars to reduce the gap with 7:52 to play. Clark knocked down three shots from beyond the arc in the closing minutes, including one from junior Anthony Grzembski (Webster, Mass.) but Coast Guard was able to secure the 103-77 final score.

Clark finished 20-of-66 shooting (43.9%) while hitting 12-of-35 from three-point range (34.3%) while Coast Guard connected on 36-of-63 from the floor (57.1%) and 13-of-23 from beyond the arc (56.5%).

Up Next

The Cougars travel to local-foe WPI for a clash of NEWMAC teams on Saturday, January 25. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 pm.