Dec. 21, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy concludes its pre-Christmas slate with a Saturday, Dec. 22, contest at Maryland-Eastern Shore, beginning at 1:00 pm (ET). The game was previously announced to begin at 4:00 pm (ET), but was moved up in order for players and staffs from both teams to catch flights a day earlier for the Christmas holiday. The game will be broadcast on the airwaves by WNAV (1430 AM) and WFED (1050 AM), with Bob Socci calling all the action, beginning with the Navy basketball pregame show at 12:45 pm.

NAVY UPDATE
Navy showed no signs of rust following its two-week layoff for final exams, giving San Diego State all it could handle, before falling 86-76. The Aztecs entered the contest with an 8-2 record with their lone losses coming to nationally-ranked Saint Mary's (Calif.) and Pac-10 member California. In addition, SDSU entered the contest having won 10 in a row at Cox Arena.

None of that seemed to matter, as Navy surged to an eight-point lead right after the halftime break, and were tied with the Aztecs at 61 with just over seven minutes to play. The Aztecs then embarked on a decisive 13-0 run in under three minutes to put the game away, 86-76. Greg Sprink and Chris Harris combined to shoot 19-of-27 (.704) from the field, including 10-of-18 (.556) from three-point land to score 26 and 22 points, respectively. The Mids were once again hurt at the free throw line, as SDSU went 23-of-30 from the stripe, while Navy was just 3-of-4 with its first attempt coming with 3:56 left to play in the contest. Sprink, who snapped out of a six-game slump with the performance, continues to lead Navy at 18.1 ppg. Kaleo Kina is averaging 10.9 ppg and Harris and Adam Teague contribute 9.8 and 8.5 ppg, respectively. Sprink leads the team in rebounding (5.0 rpg), while Kina has recorded 37 assists to pace the squad. Freshman Mark Veazey has 16 blocked shots.

As a team, Navy is averaging 71.5 ppg and shooting 40.5 percent from the field. Defensively, opponents are averaging 74.5 ppg and are shooting 42.9 percent. Rebounding continues to be an issue for the Mids, as opponents are outrebounding the Mids by over six boards a game.

SERIES HISTORY
Navy leads the all-time series between the two teams, 3-1, and haven't lost to the Hawks since the 1993-94 season. Navy won last year's meeting, 82-59, behind Greg Sprink's 24 points and Trey Stanton's 15 points. Navy shot 52.8 percent from the field and went 9-of-19 from beyond the three-point arc.

ON THIS DATE (DECEMBER 22)
Navy has played nine times on December 22, posting a 5-4 record. The last time Navy played on the date, Navy rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit, behind then-sophomore Greg Sprink, in a 73-64 win at Brown. Sprink scored a school-record 31 second-half points, including eight three-pointers, en route to a career-best 34 points in the victory. He matched a school record with nine three-pointers in the contest.

ABOUT MARYLAND-EASTERN SHORE
Maryland-Eastern Shore is off to a 2-10 start, in which the Hawk offense has really struggled. The Fighting Hawks have been held under 60 points nine times this year, and as a team, UMES is shooting just 33.0 percent from the field and averaging 56.5 ppg. However, it has shown signs of life in the last two outings, averaging 81.5 ppg in a 77-72 win over Kennesaw State and a 105-86 loss to Wagner. Defensively, UMES is allowing foes to connect on 47.2 percent of their shots and to average 76.7 points per outing. The Fighting Hawks are also getting outrebounded by 9.0 boards per game. UMES has just 100 assists on the season, compared to 207 turnovers for an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.40, which is ranked 327th nationally, out of 328 teams.

Ed Tyson leads UMES with a 19.0 ppg average. The 6-2 junior guard has led the team in scoring in nine games, including scoring 32 of the team's 48 points against Iowa and tallying 36 in the last outing against Wagner. He has connected on 78-of-212 shots on the season. Marc Davis, who scored 30 in the win over Kennesaw State, averages 11.7 ppg, but is shooting just 33-of-127 (.260) from the field. Davis leads the team with 31 assists, while Aleksander Popovic and Denzel Jackson pace the squad in rebounding at 7.3 and 7.1 rpg, respectively.

SAN DIEGO STATE LEFTOVERS
• Navy lost its second game in a row on Monday night, falling to San Diego State, 86-76. The Mids have recorded losing streaks of three, three and two games so far this year.
• Navy has led in the second half of five of the last six games. However, during that span, the Mids are just 1-5.
• The Mids' 15 made three-pointers were tied for the second most in school history. Navy also made 15 in last year's win over Stony Brook.
• Navy's 33 three-point attempts rank as tied for the fifth most in school history.
• Navy had two players (Greg Sprink - 26, and Chris Harris - 22) with 20 points in a game for the first time since the Stony Brook contest last year. Ironically, Sprink (29) and Harris (21) were the two that accomplished the feat last year.
• Chris Harris' 22 points and six three-pointers were both career highs.
• Last year, Navy went 10-0 when scoring at least 70 points in a game. This year, the Mids are just 3-3.
• With the 10-point loss to San Diego State, Navy is now 0-6 in games determined by 0-10 points.
• Sprink went over 20 points for the fourth time this year and 23rd time in his career. He has scored 25 points in a game nine times in his career.
• Navy shot just four free throws in the contest, tied for the third fewest in school history. Navy's first free throw attempt came with 3:56 to play. San Diego State committed three fouls in the first four minutes, then just nine in the game's final 36 minutes.
• Navy's bench was outscored, 25-11, against the Aztecs. It marked the first time all season that Navy's bench was outscored.

# GO NAVY #