New London — There are times when Coast Guard Academy trying to compete in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference corresponds to watching Northwestern in the Big Ten or Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference:

Highly academic schools whose basketball teams really aren't that bad — but who'd know it when the competition is mostly brutal every night?

The Bears (6-10, 1-5) earned their first win of the season in the league against Clark last week, a school sitting in first place at the time. Their reward Saturday: Springfield, another team sharing the lead in the league.

"They're really good," Coast Guard coach Kevin Jaskiewicz said, following Springfield's 94-82 win.

They are. Likely conference Player of the Year Jake Ross scored a game-high 30 points, eclipsing his season average of 25.1 entering the game. He was 12-for-22 from the field and had 12 rebounds (as a guard) as well.

"He scores in a bunch of different ways," Jaskiewicz said. "He shoots 40 percent from 3. Gets to the line any time he wants to, gets anywhere on the floor he wants. Thirty of their 94 points. And they're good. That's what makes them hard to guard. Their quote-unquote 'role players' are really good at what they do. And he's unselfish. If you're open, he'll throw it to you."

The Bears trailed by as many as 15 in the second half, but forced Springfield (14-3, 5-1) coach Charlie Brock to call a timeout with four minutes left, after Coast Guard cut it to eight. There was no quit, whatsoever.

"We just talked about that," Jaskiewicz said. "Our competitive spirit. They test your spirit because they keep coming at you. They are physical, athletic and skilled. They run their stuff. They test your will. We did a good job of matching that. It came down to a couple of possessions."

Tyler Perez led Coast Guard with 17 points, while fellow sophomore Garrett Drummond had 14 off the bench. Justin Kane had 15 and Noah Baldez 11.

"Going into games, we feel like, on our schedule, there isn't a team we can't beat," Jaskiewicz said. "There isn't a team we can't lose to either.  We feel good about where we are. We've played a really good schedule. Three first place teams in a row now: WPI, Clark and then Springfield. That's our league. It's good."

m.dimauro@theday.com