DANBURY, CT– The Maritime College men's basketball team took the court for the first time in nearly three weeks on Thursday.  And the Privateers picked up right where they left off.  Maritime (5-6) had four double-digit scorers en route to a 77-68 victory over Coast Guard (2-8) in its opening game at the Western Connecticut State Tournament at Feldman Arena.

Theo Noble (Bronx, NY) led the Privateers with 18 points and seven rebounds.  He also handed out three assists.  Ryan Donovan (North Salem, NY) finished with 17 points and five boards, while Tyler Anderson (Smithtown, NY) had 16 points and four assists.  Robbie Mitchell (Staten Island, NY) recorded 11 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Alex Tartaglia (East Northport, NY) grabbed five boards off the bench.  As a team, Maritime shot 45.2 percent (28-of-62) from the field, 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from long range, and 93.3 percent (14-of-15) at the free throw line.  The Privateers outrebounded the Bears 38-25 in the contest.

Coast Guard scored the first four points of the game, but Maritime responded with eight straight to take the lead for good.  After a Mitchell jumper gave the Privateers an eight-point advantage, 25-17, with 4:26 remaining until halftime, the Bears rattled off 11 of the next 17 points to pull within three, 31-28.  Noble hit a pair of foul shots with 43 seconds left in the half, though, to make it a 33-28 game at the break.

Maritime started the second half with three-pointers from Donovan and Noble, then Noble's layup and free throw at the 17:18 mark gave the Privateers their largest lead of the night, 44-30.  Coast Guard responded with a 16-6 run to cut its deficit to four, 50-46, but an Anderson trey followed by an Amadou Kouyate (Harlem, NY) layup pushed the lead back to nine, 55-46, with 10:50 remaining.  Nine points would prove to be the final margin, as Maritime notched a 77-68 win.

Cameron Brown recorded 18 points and three blocks for Coast Guard.  Mitch Shettles tallied 12 points, and Trevor Parks contributed 11 points.  Ben Yagey paced the Bears with four rebounds, while Elijah Parent distributed three assists.  Coast Guard shot 51 percent (25-of-49) as a team, including 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from downtown.  The Bears were just 13-for-20 (65 percent) at the charity stripe, however.

With the win, Maritime advanced to Friday's championship game against host Western Connecticut State (9-0).  Tip-off between the Privateers and Wolves is set for 11 a.m.