Outside shooting buoys Black Knights on the road As Andrew Stire of Army tussled for the ball with three Navy players under his own basket, his four teammates stood on the perimeter with their arms raised. “Open for a 3” is the mantra at West Point under third-year coach Zach Spiker, even when possession is uncertain.
At Alumni Hall in Annapolis on Saturday, the Black Knights used their drive-and-dish, catch-and-shoot artistry and 19 points and nine rebounds from junior Ella Ellis to subdue the Midshipmen 75-62 before a sellout crowd of 5,710. It was the Mids’ largest loss to their archrivals since 1971, when Bobby Knight was the Army coach.
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Hitting 13 of 23 shots (56 percent) from beyond the arc, Army used the system Spiker learned as an assistant at West Virginia under current Michigan coach John Beilein. It was the first win in Annapolis for Army’s three seniors, including guard Julian Simmons (18 points), who hit a trio of 3-pointers.
“We could see guys were playing off us a little bit,” Simmons said. “We were just getting open looks and knocking them down.”
Typifying the perimeter focus of Army (8-10, 1-2 Patriot League) was sophomore Josh Herbeck (15 points), who scored all of his points from beyond the arc. Midway through the second half, when he missed for the first time, Herbeck patted himself on the chest and pointed to Simmons by way of apology.
Navy’s mainstays, sophomore J.J. Avila (21 points, 14 rebounds) and senior Jordan Sugars (17 points), worked hard but didn’t get much help. Seven Mids who combined to play 59 minutes failed to score.
“We get nothing off the bench. Guys gotta come in and be ready to play,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “We’re a young team. We’re an inexperienced team. We got a lot of growing up to do.”
In losing for the 10th straight time, Navy (3-14, 0-3) was done in by its failure to score on 10 straight possessions in the first half. It was part of a 19-3 Army run, triggered by a 3-pointer from Ellis. After that, Navy got no closer than nine.
“We were getting better, then we took 10 steps back in this game,” Avila said.
