Three in Double Digits Sparks Home-Opening Win

Tuesday, November 14

West Point

7 p.m.

Army West Point

1-1

John Jay College

0-0

John Jay

Army West Point

Three in Double Digits Sparks Home-Opening Win

November 14, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's basketball team kicked off its home slate with a 92-43 rout of John Jay College here Tuesday night.

The Black Knights registered three cadet-athletes in double digits with Luke Morrison's 12 points leading the way. The senior was perfect from behind-the-arc at 4-of-4, and missed just one jumper on the night to finish 4-for-5 from the floor. He chipped in four rebounds, including two on the offensive glass, to go along with his three assists, which matched his career-best effort.

Rookie Tucker Blackwell and junior Jordan Fox chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, to the Cadets' final total. Blackwell went 4-of-5 from the floor, 1-of-2 from long range and 2-of-2 at the free throw line for his career-high night. Fox quietly finished at 4-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-4 from downtown, while notching six rebounds and a game-high five assists.

Matching him in rebounds was first-year Alex King, who posted six boards of his own to go along with his career-high nine points.

15 of Army's 20 players that saw action in the game recorded at least one point, seven of those tallied career-highs in scoring.

It was only a three-point game at 20-17 with 12:24 remaining in the opening half, but the Black Knights strung together a 28-0 run over a little less than nine minutes to create a 48-17 gap between the teams. During that span, Army drained six 3-pointers, including three consecutive makes by the duo of Lonnie Grayson (2x) and John Emezie.

The Cadets then maintained that large margin throughout the remainder of the contest to secure themselves a 49-point victory.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

The win handed Army its fourth-straight home-opening win.
The Black Knights posted a season-best 92 points.
For the game, Army shot 46.5 percent (33-of-71) from the floor and 42.4 percent (14-of-33) from long range. Both were season high marks.
The Cadets also finished 12-of-14 from the free throw line as well for 85.7 percent shooting.
John Jay shot 25 percent (15-of-60) from the floor, 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from behind-the-arc, and 58.3 percent from the charity stripe.
Army outrebounded its visitor 56-32, including a 12-5 edge on the offensive glass.
The Black Knights racked up an impressive 22 assists on the night to just six from the Bloodhounds.
Army scored 21 points off turnovers compared to John Jay's six.
The Cadets also posted the edge in points in the paint at 34-14, fast break points at 10-0, and second-chance points at 11-0.
All 20 cadet-athletes that dressed for Army saw action in the game.

CAREER MARKS

Grayson, Nick Finke, Mark Madden, Will Culliton, Keeston Smith, Parker Fennema, and Lance Lawson all saw action in their first collegiate game.
Grayson finished with eight points on 3-of-8 shoot from the floor and 2-of-5 shooting from long.
Madden posted four points and was perfect on his lone field goal and two attempts at the free throw line.
Culliton chipped in two points, while Smith added one defensive rebound.
Fennema earned his first career point after going 1-of-2 from the charity stripe.
Cayne Edwards was also perfect on the night, notching a career-best eight points on 2-of-2 shooting from the floor. He added 4-of-4 makes from the free throw line and five rebounds.

TURNING POINT

The Bloodhounds saw rookie Matt Hudzik hit a 3-pointer with 12:24 remaining in the opening half to cut the Army lead to 20-17. The Black Knights responded though with a 28-0 run over nine minutes to create a 31-point gap between the teams. John Jay was never able to recover.

UP NEXT

Army is back on the road Saturday for another out-of-conference test at Marist. That game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip in the James J. McCann Center and will be carried live on ESPN3.