Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
14-9, 5-7PL
Navy
9-15, 5-7PL
Navy Takes Star From Men's Basketball
February 07, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Trailing 57-55 with less than three minutes to play, Navy (9-15, 5-7 Patriot) scored six of the next eight points and went ahead 61-59 following a three-pointer by Worth Smith. The Mids took a timeout with 2:20 to play after a Tanner Plomb miss and then Shawn Anderson went to the line for a 1-and-1. He missed the front end, but Wilson was whistled for an offensive foul on Army's next possession.
Navy took advantage when Smith, who hit his final four shots, drained a deep two (63-59) to force Army (14-9, 5-7 Patriot) to use a timeout with 1:12 to play. Trailing by four, Plomb's pullup went in and out and Tilman Dunbar pulled down the rebound. He hit both free throws on the other end and Kyle Wilson (nine points) misfired on a three to erase any hope of a late Army comeback. Army ended the afternoon 5-for-24 from beyond the arc (20.8 percent).
"I thought 20 of those 24 were good looks, we probably rushed a couple at times," head coach Zach Spiker said. "Scott Mammel certainly hit a big one which was nice to see. We are going to take 20-25 threes per game and I thought we had the right shots for the right guys, but today they didn't fall."
Dunbar finished with 16 points and led his team with five assists as Navy shot 50 percent from the field in the second half. Smith scored 14 points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked three shots, while Will Kelly contributed four blocks to help Navy limit Army to 40 percent shooting in the game. Navy pressured Army into 19 turnovers and turned them into 21 points, while Army forced 12 giveaways and scored nine points off of them.
"That's something we talked about going into the game," Spiker said in reference to Army's turnovers. "We've got to be better with taking care of the ball and we didn't do a good job of that today."
Army managed a 39-34 rebounding advantage, led by Dylan Cox's season-high 10 boards. Cox scored eight points and had five assists, while Plomb led Army with 17 points. Kevin Ferguson was the only other Army player in double figures with 12 points.
Consecutive threes, the second an open look in transition, from Fong helped Navy build a 12-7 lead at the first media timeout. Fong's three-pointers made it 10-4 before Nathan Dodge connected on a corner triple and Dunbar sank an open jumper. On the other side of the timeout, Edward Alade scored inside before Wilson's backdoor cut and Cox's layup made it 14-11.
After a Wilson layup trimmed the deficit to a point, Navy used a 9-2 run that featured two buckets from Dunbar and Fong's third three. The three-pointer forced an Army timeout with 8:47 on the clock when the Black Knights trailed 23-15.
Navy's lead was 29-21 with five minutes left, before Army closed the gap to three with five straight points from Plomb over the next two minutes. Navy countered with another jumper from Fong and with a minute left he hit a pullup three to push the lead to 36-28. Fong, who started in place of an injured Brandon Venturini, had 18 points at intermission and Navy held a 36-30 lead at the break.
Trailing 42-35 early in the second half, Mammel and Larry Toomey hit threes sandwiched around Fong's fifth triple and Army closed the gap to 45-41. Moments later Plomb got in on the three-point barrage and hit from straightaway, but Earl McLaurin answered on the other end to push the Navy lead back to four (50-46).
"We knew about Fong, we were familiar with him and knew we had to stop him" Spiker continued. "We let him get going early with those three threes early in the game and suffered the consequences later."
A Ferguson layup and a pair at the line by Cox had the game tied midway through the second half. Two minutes later, Ferguson fed Plomb on a backdoor cut and his lay-in gave Army a two-point lead and Navy called a timeout. The 52-50 Army advantage was Army's first lead since it was 4-2 a minute into the contest.
Smith came off a screen and connected on a three for the Mids out of the timeout, then Wilson's spinning layup pushed Army ahead 54-53. The seesaw battle continued with a Dunbar jumper, and then Plomb's baseline floater plus a bonus free throw made it 57-55 with 5:50 to go.
Navy responded to the deficit with its 12-2 run to close the victory.
Army returns home on Wednesday night to host Holy Cross. Opening tip from Christl Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will air on the Patriot League Network.
Game Notes: Army's 59 points were a season-low ... the Black Knights outscored Navy 32-12 in the paint ... it was Army's first loss when winning the rebounding battle (8-1) ... Army dropped to 7-4 on the road this year ... Mammel handed out a career-high three assists ... Cox's 10 rebounds equaled his career high ... Cox tied his season high with three steals ... Ferguson matched his season high with three assists ... Mo Williams matched his season high with three rebounds ... Navy has won the last three games against Army, including two straight stars ... head coach Zach Spiker is 3-3 in star games.
