Jan. 27, 2008

Box Score | Photo Gallery

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Army's Jarell Brown scored a career-high 35 points, including the game-winning basket with 13 seconds left to lead Army past Navy, 69-67, in men's basketball action on Sunday at Alumni Hall. The loss drops Navy's record to 9-11 overall and 2-3 in the Patriot League, while Army improves to 9-10 and 2-3. The contest was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,710, just the fifth sellout at Alumni Hall in school history.

The Mids fell behind 11-0 at the start of the contest, but rallied with a 13-2 run, fueled by Adam Teague (Jr./Hickory, N.C.). Teague hit a pair of three-pointers in Navy's run to tie the game 13 with 11:32 to play. The lead see-sawed back and forth for the remainder of the first half, before the Mids closed on a 9-2 run, highlighted by a Chris Harris (So./Mechanicsville, Va.) 30-footer at the buzzer for a 38-34 lead.

The Mids slowly expanded their lead, taking a nine-point lead (55-46) on a lay-up by Greg Sprink (Sr./Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.) with 10:55 to play.

However, Army rallied behind Brown. Brown scored 22 of his 35 points in the second half, including 16 of them in the final 10 minutes. Army would embark on a 15-5 run over four minutes to take a 67-63 advantage with 2:31 to play.

The Mids would get defensive stops and tied the game at 67-67on a Teague lay-up on an offensive rebound with 42 seconds to play.

With just 13 seconds left in the game, Brown drove the lane and hit a baseline floater over the Navy defense for a 69-67 lead.

After successive timeouts, Navy got a pair of good shots from Mark Veazey (Fr./Lilburn, Ga.) and an open three-point attempt at the buzzer from Harris that bounced off the side of the rim and Army held on, 69-67.

"Our focus just wasn't there in spots today, and until we start focusing for 40 minutes, we will continue to be in games like this," said Navy head coach Billy Lange. "We had great stretches defensively, but we gave it away with our offense. We stood a lot in the final two minutes. When we execute, we can play very well, but lack of execution in key spots has hurt us in all of our losses."

The Mids shot just 21-of-61 (.344) from the field and went 11-of-33 (.333) from three-point range. The Mids were 9-of-18 (.500) from long distance in the first half, but went just 2-of-15 (.133) in the second half.

"I was disappointed with the way we played. The effort was there, but our focus and execution has to get better," said Lange. "I said at the start of the year, that there are about one or two possessions each game that determine the outcome of the game. That was definitely the case today. This league is too competitive and balanced to take possessions off."

Sprink and Harris each scored 20 points to lead Navy. The duo, however, combined to shoot just 11-of-36 from the field, including 7-of-22 from three-point range. Harris added five assists, while Sprink had six rebounds and three assists.

Veazey also gave the Mids a spark in the second half. Veazey scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out two assists and blocked two shots in the second half, for his most complete game of the season.

Josh Miller and Doug Williams added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Army. The Black Knights shot 26-of-57 (.456) from the field and were 5-of-13 (.385) from three-point range. Army did commit 20 turnovers against Navy's 18, while the Mids outrebounded Army, 39-38.

"We didn't lose the game because of Jarell Brown. We lost the game because Army played great and made the plays they needed to," said Lange. "We are still learning how to play mature and execute when we need to. The game was decided early on when we fell behind 11-0."

The Mids are now just 6-7 this year when leading at halftime, including an 0-3 mark in the Patriot League. The Mids held seven-point leads at halftime against Bucknell and Lafayette and a four-point lead today.

Navy will look to get back on track on Wednesday night with a 7:30 pm tip-off at American in Washington, D.C. American enters the contest with an 11-9 record and is 3-2 in the Patriot League.

# GO NAVY #