Navy Claims Men’s Basketball Star

Monday, February 1

West Point, NY

7:30 PM

Army West Point

12-10, 3-7PL

Navy

16-7, 7-3PL

Navy

Army West Point

Navy Claims Men’s Basketball Star

February 01, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Navy's defense limited the Army West Point men's basketball team to a 27.3 shooting performance in a 64-50 victory for the Mids in the 2016 men's basketball 'Star' Game presented by USAA on Monday night at Christl Arena.

The result was Army's fourth consecutive loss and dropped the Black Knights to 3-7 in conference play and 12-10 on the season. Navy improved to 16-7 overall and 7-3 in the conference.

Senior Tanner Plomb returned from a five-game absence to score a team-high 14 points, while Luke Morrison added 11 for the Black Knights in the loss.

The Mids were led by Will Kelly's 15-point and 10-rebound performance, while Tilman Dunbar scored 13 points and pulled down nine boards. Shawn Anderson added 12 points for the visitors.

As a team, Navy held a 42-34 rebounding advantage and connected on 42.3 percent of its field goal attempts (22-for-52). In addition to shooting below 30-percent, Army was 6-for-28 from beyond the arc in the contest.

"It's tough to win when you shoot at that percentage and you have to give Navy all the credit," head coach Zach Spiker said. "They defended us well and they took a couple of our key contributors out of the game and made them uncomfortable. It is unfortunate to have the star game at home and not do what we wanted to do, but at the same time, this game will not define us."

Navy scored nine straight points in the early going to force the Black Knights to use a timeout with 12:06 showing on the first-half clock. A straightway three off the window by Tim Abruzzo started the stretch before Kelly's punctuation mark of a tip slam prompted the stoppage.

An Army giveaway led to an easy two at the other end for Jace Hogan as Navy led 14-3. Army opened the game 1-for-12 from the field before a foul-line jumper midway through the period made it a nine-point game.

Army trimmed the deficit to 16-12 with free throws by Toomey and Cox, before a four-point play by Tilman Dunbar pushed the lead back to eight for the visiting Mids. Kelly followed up an empty Army possession with a three-point play as Navy claimed a 23-12 advantage. The Mids forced Army to use its second timeout of the first half at the 4:25 mark after a transition layup polished off an 11-3 run. Army's bucket during the stretch was a Luke Morrison three from the left wing.

Pullup jumpers for Wilson and Plomb surrounding a Navy turnover started to swing the momentum in Army's favor. Plomb drained another jumper moments later as Army scored the final six points of the period to go into the break down 27-21.

Navy maintained its lead through the early portion of the second period and stretched it to double digits with a long jumper by Hogan that made it 39-28 with 13 minutes remaining. The Black Knights cut it to seven on a Morrison trifecta, but Zach Fong answered on the other end with a deep three of his own a minute later.

A Toomey three at the eight-minute mark made it 44-35 and after buckets by each team, Toomey hit two at the stripe to draw Army within seven. The deficit was five (48-43) with five minutes left after Plomb made 4-of-5 at the line.

Shawn Anderson used the glass after a Plomb miss to give the Mids a seven-point edge before calling for time with 3:48 to go. Fong drilled another three after Army misfired and the deficit was 10 a little more than a minute later.

The Midshipmen hit their free throws down the stretch and finished the night 14-for-19 at the line.

Army returns to action on Wednesday night when it travels to Lafayette. Opening tip from Kirby Sports Center is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on the Patriot League Network.

Game Notes: Army's 21 first-half points were the lowest in a first half this season … Army's 50 points marked a season low … Navy has won four straight games against Army and leads the all-time series 77-47 … Dylan Cox tied the Academy career assist record of 430 set by Randy Cozzens '85 … Kevin Ferguson returned to the lineup after missing the previous four games.