Defending Patriot League champion Holy Cross out-shot and out-rebounded host Navy last night at Alumni Hall.
However, in the end the visiting Crusaders couldn?t outscore the Midshipmen, as Navy held on for a 72-66 win in front of 2,257 fans at Alumni Hall.
Senior guard Greg Sprink scored 25 points and had 7 rebounds and sophomore guard Chris Harris finished with 23 points, tied a career-high with 5 steals and grabbed a career-best 7 rebounds for Navy (14-12, 7-4 Patriot League), which has now won four straight conference games for the first time in more than seven years.
“I?m proud of our guys because it was a night when we didn?t shoot really fell,” Navy coach Billy Lange said. “We needed to play tough to beat the defending champions in our league and I thought our guys learned a lot about how to execute and how to gut out a victory and that?s what the season has been for us.”
Navy stormed out to an 18-11 lead following a jumper from junior guard Clif Colbert with 10:38 left in the first half. However, Holy Cross responded with a 19-11 spurt to take a 30-29 lead at intermission.
Holy Cross then opened the second half strong as the Crusaders eventually built a 51-45 lead following a basket from senior center Tim Clifford. But, Navy then scored 18 of the next 22 points to take a 63-55 lead following a three-pointer from Kina with 4:26 remaining.
The Crusaders eventually pulled within 68-66 following a tip-in by sophomore forward Eric Meister with 56 second left. Harris and Sprink then closed out the game by making four free throws in the final nine seconds to secure Navy?s first season sweep of Holy Cross in eight years. For the game, Navy made 23-of-25 free throw attempts and forced Holy Cross into 18 turnovers.
Clifford finished with a game-high 34 points, including 23 in the second half, for Holy Cross (14-11, 5-7), which had its three-game winning streak snapped.
“Games with Navy are always hard-fought,” Clifford said. “They are tough to play against because of that and unfortunately we didn?t come away with a win. It?s very disappointing and disheartening.”
Navy next plays at 2 p.m. Saturday at Army in a nationally televised game on CBS. The Midshipmen go into that game with dual motivation as they are in second place in the Patriot League, 1 ½ games behind American (17-10, 9-3), which beat Army last night, 49-40.
“To sweep Holy Cross is a testament to how we want to win, and the way we learned how to win by being beaten by championship teams like Holy Cross in the past,” Sprink said.
