Marist Holds Off Men’s Basketball

Sunday, December 20

West Point, NY

2 PM

Army West Point

8-3

Marist

3-6

Marist

Army West Point

Marist Holds Off Men’s Basketball

December 20, 2015 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Tanner Plomb scored 27 points, but a 7-for-38 shooting performance from beyond the arc by the Army West Point men's basketball team proved too much to overcome in a 89-83 victory for Marist on Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena.

The result snapped Army's five-game winning streak and dropped Army to 8-3 on the year. Marist moved to 3-6 overall.

"All the credit goes to Marist," head coach Zach Spiker said. "They came out and executed at a very high level offensively, they were very efficient and by doing so that put us in a tough spot. This game came down to their ability to defend and our inability to get stops when we needed."

Alongside Plomb's 27 points, Dylan Cox scored a season-high 16 and Kevin Ferguson recorded his seventh-career double-double with 13 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. Army finished 30-for-77 from the floor (39 percent) and were held to a season-low 13 assists.

Brian Parker scored 23 and grabbed 11 rebounds, Khallid Hart contributed 22 points and Isiah Lamb netted 14 for Marist. The Red Foxes finished 33-of-63 in the game (52.4 percent) and scored 44 points in the paint.

Marist came out of the gate red-hot, hitting seven of their first eight shots and had a 15-8 lead at the first media timeout. The scorching start continued as the game approached the midway point of the period, with the Red Foxes making 11 of their first 13 attempts, including 10 points by Parker. The Marist lead was double digits (24-14) by the 11:42 mark of the opening half.

The visitors led by as many as 13 points at 30-17, before Army used a 19-6 run to tie the game at 36 apiece with less than two minutes remaining. The Black Knights missed their first 15 three-point field goal attempts before Cox's triple tied the score and punctuated the scoring run.

Marist took a 42-38 lead into the locker room after shooting 50 percent (17-of-34) in the first 20 minutes. Army was 16-for-39 (41 percent), including 15-for 22 from two-point territory. Ferguson had 10 points inside for the Black Knights at intermission.

Army continued to struggle from three-point land for the early portion of the second half, but was able to stay in the game and never trailed by more than four through the first eight minutes. A three by Plomb at 11:25 tied the score at 55 and a loose ball foul put Mac Hoffman at the line where he gave the Black Knights their first lead (56-55).

The two sides went on the seesaw as Phil Lawrence-Ricks and Plomb each made jumpers prior to a bucket inside from Parker. Plomb countered with a straightaway trifecta to push Army ahead by two with 9:27 to play.

Six straight points from the Red Foxes, including a three-point play on a dunk by Kentrall Brooks gave the lead back to Marist moments later.

Back-to-back threes by Wilson tied the score at 69-69, but a corner three from Kristinn Palsson and a transition layup by Hart put Marist back up by five and forced an Army timeout with 5:22 to go.

A foul-line jumper from Isaiah Lame at 2:49 extended the lead to 76-69 as Army was held scoreless for more than four minutes.

Hart went 6-for-6 from the line and Marist was 9-for-10 at the stripe in the closing minutes, which helped it hang on for the six-point win.

Following a week-long layoff, Army returns to action when it hosts Monmouth on Monday, Dec. 28 at 4 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live online on the Patriot League Network.

Game Notes: Marist leads the all-time series against Army 10-6 … Kevin Ferguson's two blocks moved him past Lehigh's Matt Crawford into seventh on the Patriot League's all-time blocked shots list and gave him 175 for his career … Tanner Plomb scored 27 points to move him past Doug Clevenger '71 on Army's all-time scoring list (29th – 1,038 points) … Plomb was presented a ball commemorating his 1,000th career point prior to the game … Plomb scored 19 points after intermission ... Army's five turnovers were a season low.