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

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - Ursinus is headed to Final Four.

The Bears (29-2) got two foul shots from sophomore guard Remy Cousart (Yardley, PA/Holy Ghost) 17 seconds left to send it to overtime, at which point Ursinus took over and defeated Coast Guard (24-7) 82-76 Saturday night in the finals of the Collegeville Sectional in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball tournament.

Ursinus will take on defending national champion Amherst at 5 p.m. on Friday in the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia.

"Obviously, I'm so happy and proud of our kids," Ursinus head coach Kevin Small said afterwards. "We worked extremely hard against a very tough Coast Guard team. We had a lot of guys contribute tonight but the difference was the way we executed in the second half.:

Junior guard John Noonan (Havertown, PA/Friends Select) had a team-high 21 points as Ursinus advanced to the final four for the first time since 1981.

"When we were down two, we kept saying ‘Get it to overtime'," Noonan said afterwards. "Remy (Cousart) made those two huge foul shots to get us there and we worked hard in the overtime."

Senior guard Nick Shattuck (Ardsley, PA/La Salle) scored 19 points, while sophomore guard Matt Hilton (Lewistown, PA/Lewistown) added in 18 in the win.

For Coast Guard, senior guard Grant Johnson had a game-high 26 points, including eight three-pointers. Junior forward Craig Johnson had 16 points in the loss.

Trailing by two with 17 seconds left, Cousart sank two foul shots to tie the score at 69-all. Senior guard Al Sowers three-pointer with five seconds left did not fall and the game went to overtime.

In the extra period, Ursinus outscored Coast Guard 9-3 to take a six point lead at 78-72 with 40 seconds left and never looked back.

In the first half, with the score tied at 6-all, Ursinus embarked on a 9-0 run which put them up 15-6 with 12:51 to play. Coast Guard, who made its first two shots, went 0-for-10 from the field during the stretch. Ursinus capped the run with a layup from Shattuck.

Coast Guard stopped the run with a three-pointer from junior forward Craig Johnson. The three-pointer was Coast Guard's favorite weapon in the first half, allowing CGA to get within one at 20-19 with 8:35 left on a long bomb from Sowers.

Ursinus got the lead back up to six at 25-19 on a layup by Shema, but Coast Guard charged back and took a 28-27 lead on a layup by senior forward Jeff Prebeck with 4:40 to go.

Both teams then traded the lead twice, before Coast Guard took its largest lead of the half at 38-34 on a three-pointer by Johnson. Noonan's three-pointer with 22 seconds to go put Ursinus within one at 38-37.

With time running down, sophomore guard Matt Hilton (Lewistown, PA/Lewistown) stole the ball and raced the length of the court, but was unable to get a shot off.

Johnson scored 21 points in the first half, while Noonan scored 13 in the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, Shattuck scored eight of Ursinus' first 13 points. Ursinus built a five-point lead with 15:55 left on a pair of foul shots by Noonan. However, Coast Guard again rallied and tied the score at 50-all with 14:30 left on a pair of free throws from Johnson.

Following an Ursinus time out, the Bears responded with a 7-2 run to take their largest lead of the half to date at 59-52 on three foul shots from Noonan with 11:04 to go. Coast Guard fought back again and erased the deficit, tying the score at 59-all with 9:32 left on a three-pointer by Craig Johnson.

The remaining 9:32 of the second half was extremely tight, but, Ursinus went up by five at 67-62 with 4:13 left on a layup by Shattuck. However, Coast Guard got back into it on a 7-0 run to take a 69-67 lead with 1:46 left on a three-pointer by Grant Johnson.

Ursinus had a 49-42 advantage on the glass, with senior center Michael Shema (Geneva, Switzerland/Westtown) grabbing a career-high 15. Cousart finished with six assists.

Newspaper Box Score

Coast Guard vs Ursinus

3/15/08 7:00 p.m. at Collegeville, Pa. (Helfferich Hall)

At Collegeville, Pa. (Helfferich Hall)

URSINUS 82, COAST GUARD 76

COAST GUARD (24-7)

Grant Johnson 9-23 0-0 26; Craig Johnson 5-12 5-5 16; Jeff Prebeck 6-11 1-4

13; Al Sowers 2-13 5-8 11; Eric Hudson 2-4 2-3 7; Jevon James 1-2 1-2 3;

Stefan Lewis 0-3 0-0 0; Steve Blum 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-69 14-22 76.

URSINUS (29-2)

John Noonan 6-10 5-5 21; Nick Shattuck 8-19 3-6 19; Matt Hilton 6-16 4-5 18;

Michael Shema 6-7 4-8 16; Remy Cousart 2-8 2-2 6; Keith Page 1-2 0-0 2; Eric

Burnett 0-1 0-0 0; Kevin McGarvey 0-2 0-0 0; Matt Brundage 0-0 0-0 0. Totals

29-65 18-26 82.

Coast Guard................... 38 31 7 - 76

Ursinus....................... 37 32 13 - 82

3-point goals--Coast Guard 12-33 (Grant Johnson 8-20; Al Sowers 2-9; Craig

Johnson 1-1; Eric Hudson 1-1; Stefan Lewis 0-2), Ursinus 6-26 (John Noonan

4-7; Matt Hilton 2-10; Remy Cousart 0-2; Keith Page 0-1; Kevin McGarvey 0-2;

Nick Shattuck 0-4). Fouled out--Coast Guard-Jeff Prebeck; Craig Johnson,

Ursinus-None. Rebounds--Coast Guard 42 (Jeff Prebeck 10), Ursinus 49

(Michael Shema 15). Assists--Coast Guard 11 (Craig Johnson 7), Ursinus 14

(Remy Cousart 6). Total fouls--Coast Guard 22, Ursinus 20. Technical

fouls--Coast Guard-None, Ursinus-None. A-1900

NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Contest, Collegeville sectional

Coast Guard Men Fall to Ursinus, 82-76, in Overtime in NCAA Sectional Final