Navy senior guard Greg Sprink knows he is guaranteed at least one more game at Alumni Hall when the Midshipmen host a Patriot League quarterfinal game next week.
Still, the 6-foot-5 Cardiff by the Sea, Calif. native made sure he left everything on the court in last night?s game against conference foe American. Sprink finished with 34 points, seven assists and five rebounds as Navy moved past American into first place in the Patriot League with an 83-68 win in front of 3,191 fans at Alumni Hall.
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Navy (16-12, 9-4) has won six straight conference games for the first time in seven seasons and has clinched home court advantage through at least the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Midshipmen, which swept American (17-11, 9-4) for the first time in six seasons, can clinch their first Patriot League regular season title since 2000 ? and at least a berth in the National Invitational Tournament ? with a win at Colgate on Saturday.
“I think the game found me toward the end,” Sprink said. “At times I think I was forcing it too much and got caught up in the emotions of the game but I had my teammates and coaches there to harness my energy and refocus me.”
Junior guard Kaleo Kina had 17 points and sophomore guard Chris Harris finished with 13 points and 7 assists for Navy, which made 15-of-38 shots from three-point range.
Navy set the tone from the opening tipoff as the Midshipmen scored the first six points on the game on three-pointers from Kina and Sprink. The Midshipmen led by as many as 12 points twice in the first half, including 41-29 following a three-pointer by Sprink with 3:10 left before intermission.
Trailing 41-33 at halftime, American slowly climbed back into the game as Navy?s offense sputtered. The Eagles held the Midshipmen without a field goal for nearly nine minutes at one point and eventually tookits first lead at 53-51 after a pair of free throws from junior guard Garrison Carr with 9:10 remaining.
Navy followed that with a 12-5 spurt of its own as a Harris three-pointer gave the Midshipmen a 63-58 lead with 5:24 remaining. American then scored four straight and pulled within 63-62 after a basket by Carr with 4:15 remaining. However, Navy closed out the game on a 20-6 run.
“I thought American played an awesome game and I thought we played a good game,” Navy coach Billy Lange said. “In the end we made the critical plays when we needed to and came out with a win.”
Carr and fellow junior Derrick Mercer scored 20 and 11 points, respectively, and senior forward Travis Lay finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for American, which had its five-game winning streak snapped.
“In a lot of ways it was a heck of a game,” American coach Jeff Jones said. “Obviously, the way we finished wasn?t what we would have like and the outcome wasn?t what we would have liked. But, I did think our kids competed.”
