By Michael Letendre
NEW LONDON – When former Bristol Eastern boys basketball standout Elijah Parent was thinking about his collegiate future, he knew he wanted to continue playing the sport.
But he also found an opportunity to serve his country as well all while being able to learn a trade that will help his career in the future.
The Coast Guard checked off all those boxes for the highly intelligent young man and the combo guard is a thriving contributor for the men’s basketball team in New London.
The 6-foot-2, 175 lb. freshman has made several starts for the Bears, getting a ton of playing time as a first year player.
For the season, Parent is averaging 5.6 points and 2.4 rebounds-per-game while hitting just around 30-percent of his three-point attempts.
After not playing against Eastern Connecticut in the Coast Guard’s opener back on November 3, it’s been hard to keep Parent out of the line-up.
He started five consecutive games in November, was coming off the pine to start December before getting back into the starting lineup in three of the Bears’ last five games.
Over his past two starts, Parent has dropped in 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals-per-game – playing in 71 of a possible 80 minutes to lead the team
Parent and the Bears went to war against Emerson this past Monday in what turned into a tight 40-minute battle of attrition.
Parent had a tremendous showing, dropping in a team-high 14 points that included two makes from downtown – to no one’s surprise – while capturing five rebounds, dishing out about half-a-dozen assists, swiped two steals and even blocked a shot over a team-leading 34 minutes.
Coast Guard just couldn’t get over the hump as Emerson snuck out an 81-76 victory from New London.
Parent drained a 3 early in the showdown to trim the deficit to 5-3 but the Lions always seemed to be one step ahead.
But his slick lay-up with 12:17 left before halftime allotted Coast Guard a slim 24-21 advantage.
Emerson ended the half on a 20-9 burst and after twenty minutes of play, the Bears trailed by eight (41-33).
That deficit trickled to about 13 before Parent and the Bears made a bit of a run.
Parent splashed in an NBA range 3 with 12:57 left in regulation as the former Bristol Eastern sharpshooter made it a two-possession game at 53-47.
The deficit reached double-figures again (67-57) with 6:18 to play and the Lions were still ahead by nine with 2:38 left.
But one final run was in the works by the Bears and when Parent found Trevor Parks (nine points) for a big three-point bomb, the home team was in it, down just 77-74 with 46.7 seconds remaining.
But Emerson took the air out of the ball, made good on free throw opportunities due to the Bears fouling late, and in the end, the Guard Coast lost a hard-fought 81-76 decision.
And then on Wednesday, the Bears were in action against MIT, drawing a tough 70-68 loss.
Parent started again, contributing seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals over a team best 37 minutes of court time.
Off the loss, Coast Guard fell to 3-11 overall and 1-2 in NEWMAC play.
Parent was a tremendous player for Bristol Eastern over his four seasons, earning varsity time since his freshman year.
In 67 career games, bumped into by the pandemic, Parent averaged 10.6 points-per-game while scoring over 700 points for the program.
He’s the all-time leader in three-pointers made at Eastern (133) and also holds the record for threes made in a game.
On February 11, 2020, Parent jumped Platt for a career-high 33 points which included a 7-of-10 showing from three for the school record.
Parent also drained 62-of-74 charity shots (83.8-percent), ranking among the top foul shooters in BEHS boys basketball history.
