November 23, 2006

The Cal Maritime Men's Basketball team captured the inaugural Maritime Cup Sunday by defeating Maine Maritime by a score of 54-36.  The Maritime Classic will be an annual tournament where maritime academies come together to compete.  This year, the Maritime Classic consisted of three teams, Cal Maritime, SUNY (State University, New York) Maritime, and host Maine Maritime.  According to Marv Christopher, director of athletics at Cal Maritime, "the tournament will look to grow in the near future to include the Coast Guard Academy as well as King's Point Maritime Academy."  The tournament will rotate to the participating academies with Cal Maritime looking to host in the near future.

The Keelhaulers, coming off a solid win over SUNY Maritime on Saturday, got off to a quick start against the Mariners of Maine.  Praise Odo-Boms continued to play stellar basketball leading the team in rebounds and aggressive post play.  Offensively, the Keelhaulers were well balanced in scoring with Tom Kreta leading the way pouring  in 17 on Sunday and 19 on Saturday.  The Keelhaulers distributed the ball well with Will Williams  at the point.  Cal Maritime was able to control the tempo of the game by executing their offense and pressuring the Mariners on defense.  The Keelhaulers held Maine to just 12 points in the first half, taking a  29-12 lead at the intermission.  Williams and Odo-Boms earned all tournament honors.

Overall, the trip was one of the most successful road trips for Cal Maritime in recent history.  The trip afforded the team the opportunity to come together as a group as well get to know cadets from the other maritime academies.