Navy may be one of the youngest teams in the country, but it showed Saturday that it has a short memory.
The Midshipmen, who suffered a 28-point loss Thursday to Holy Cross, bounced back with a 76-58 win over Army in front of 5,247 fans at Alumni Hall. The victory was Navy?s fifth in a row in the Star Game against Army (13-14, 3-9 Patriot League), allowing the Mids to retain possessionof the Alumni Trophy.
The win puts Navy (14-13, 4-8), which hosts American Tuesday and closes out the regular season at Colgate Saturday, in position to still secure a top-four seed in the upcoming Patriot League tournament. That would guarantee Navy a home game in the first round.
“This a great win for our program and our institution for a lot of reasons,” Navy coach Billy Lange said. “Number one we keep the Alumni Trophy here in Annapolis at the Naval Academy. Number two, [it is] beating your archrival in a great game on CBS.
“Number three, I think it?s a big win in the Patriot League standings which now becomes very important as we move forward. And it?s a great win for our guys to bounce back after an embarrassing defeat against a very good Holy Cross team. To come back in a game like that where there is a lot of pressure to show team unity and to execute our game plan to a tee, I?m very proud of our guys.”
Junior guard Greg Sprink said on a team with six freshmen and five sophomores, it is important for him and other veterans to help keep the younger players looking at the bigger picture.
“There is a lot more growth for this team,” Sprink said. “We?re playing five freshmen, a bunch of sophomores and then myself, Corey Johnson and Ben [Biles] as juniors. There is a lot of trust from the younger guys in myself and Corey, as they?re taking our word on what we?re talking about because we?re only juniors. They?re willing to listen, willing to learn and willing to work with us and I think that shows on the court.”
Loose balls
» Navy junior guard Greg Sprink scored a game-high 19 points, all of which came in the final 13:30 of the game. Sprink also had four assists and five rebounds.
» Freshman forward Trey Stanton and sophomore guard Kaleo Kina had 15 and 14 points, respectively for Navy.
» Navy made 22 of 31 free throwattempts (71 percent). The Mids entered the game converting 75 percent from the charity stripe, good for 15th nationally.
» Saturday?s game drew 5,247 fans ? the ninth-highest total in the 5,700-seat Alumni Hall?s history.
