The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference

NEW LONDON, CONN.--Coast Guard Academy junior forward Craig Johnson has been named to The Sporting News Division III preseason All-America team.
Johnson, who took a religious sabbatical last season in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for 3.5 months working at a church and also traveled to Israel with his church, set the single-season school record with 507 points in the 2005-06 season. He earned first team All-New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) honors and was named to the D3hoops.com All-region second team as he averaged 19.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Johnson led the NEWMAC in field goal percentage (.613), was third in scoring (19.5) and second in rebounding (10.2). He became the first Coast Guard player to score over 30 points four times in one season.

Last season without Johnson, Coast Guard struggled through the regular season going 11-13 overall and just 2-10 and finishing in last place in the NEWMAC. However, the Bears got hot and became the first seventh-seed to not only win a NEWMAC tournament game, but win the tournament earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament for just the second time in school history. Coast Guard went to the NCAA tournament in the 1978-79 season.

Johnson, who was named honorable mention, was the only player from the NEWMAC named to the preseason All-America team.

Coast Guard, which finished 14-14 overall with a first round loss in the NCAA tournament last season, had just one senior on the team last year, so all the Bears return all five starters and add Johnson to the mix. The Bears will have their first practice of the season on Monday and they will open the season on Nov. 17th vs. Cal Maritime at the New York Maritime Tournament with tip set for 6 p.m.

Coast Guard's Johnson Named Sporting News Pre-Season All-American