1/30/2002 - Men's Basketball
American Moves Into First Place With Overtime Win Over Navy
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WASHINGTON, D.C.-Glenn Stokes scored a game-high 22 points, including six in overtime, as American (11-9, 5-2 in the Patriot League) defeated Navy (9-13, 4-3), 67-66, in overtime in front of 1,865 fans at Bender Arena. With the win, American moved into sole possession of first place in the Patriot League at the halfway point.
"I was proud of the way we hung in there tonight," said Navy head coach Don DeVoe. "Stokes has been doing that all year for American and we didn't have an answer for him tonight. He hit some big three-pointers and in the end he was the difference."
"I feel bad that we lost, but it was a great game," said Navy senior forward Jehiel Lewis. "It was the type of game you expect when first place is on the line. American played their butts off and so did we."
The game, which featured five ties and seven lead changes, was a see-saw affair with neither team having bigger than a four point lead in the second half and overtime.
Navy took a 51-47 lead with 4:05 remaining when Scott Long made two free throws, but Stokes answered with back-to-back three pointers, the second one from NBA range at the top of the key to give the Eagles a 53-51 lead with 3:09 left.
The two teams then went scoreless for nearly three minutes as Navy's Kyle Barker, a 96 percent free throw shooter, missed a front end of a one-and-one with 1:14 left and American's Patrick Doctor, a 78 percent free throw shooter, missed two free throws with 39 seconds left.
Stokes gave American a four point lead with 28 seconds left when he made two free throws, but Lewis came down and hit a tough shot in the paint and was fouled by Steven Miles with 17 seconds left. Lewis missed the free throw and, after a battle on the boards, Long came up with the ball and scored with eight seconds left to tie the game at 55. The game went to overtime when Stokes' shot at the buzzer came up short.
In overtime, Navy jumped out on top when Jeff Charles knocked down his second three-pointer of the night to give Navy a 58-55 lead with 4:12 remaining. The four point lead however was short lived as Stokes answered with two three-pointers, sandwiched around a Long basket by Navy, to give American a 61-60 lead with 2:03 left.
Long made two free throws with 1:42 remaining to give Navy a 62-61 lead, but Miles answered with a driving lay-in as American regained the lead, 63-62, with 1:09 left.
Navy fouled Keith Gray, a 48 percent free throw shooter, with 32 seconds left and he made one of his two attempts to give American a two-point lead. Long, who was 7-8 from the line on the night and 36-39 for the year, was fouled underneath the basket on a scramble for a loose ball with 15 seconds remaining, but would make just one of his two free throw attempts, leaving the Mids one point behind.
"I couldn't put the ball in the hoop when I had too," said Long. I'm not going to dwell on it, American played well."
"Long kept us in the ballgame all night," said DeVoe. "You can't blame him for one missed free throw. He was 7-8 tonight, I will take that every game."
Navy fouled Miles with 14 seconds left and he made both free throws and, after a missed shot by Long, fouled Gray with six seconds left. Gray missed the first, but made the second, giving American a four point lead. Gray's free throw would prove big as Lewis hit a three for Navy with .02 remaining. Navy, though, was unable to stop the clock as the Eagles quickly got the ball in bounds to end the game.
Long had a great night off the bench for Navy, scoring a career-high 15 points and grabbing five rebounds. Lewis was huge for Navy down the stretch, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the second half. He also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and handed out a game-high tying five assists.
Ebong added nine points and nine rebounds for the Mids, while Demond Shepard scored nine points in 24 foul-plagued minutes. Charles had one of his best games as a Midshipmen, contributing eight points and playing solid defense off the bench. Jason Jeanpierre, who was questionable to play in tonight's game because of the flu, played 28 gutsy minutes, scoring five points and handing out a game-high tying five assists.
Stokes scored 18 of his 22 points on six three-point field goals for the Eagles, while Miles added 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Navy will be back in action Saturday against Holy Cross in a 3 p.m. game at Alumni Hall.
"Our goal is to go 7-0 in the second half of league play," said Lewis. "The league is real even this year, every game will be a battle."
