Jan. 30, 2008

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senior guard Greg Sprink scored a career-high 36 points and Navy outscored American, 42-29, in the second half for a 77-66 win at American on Wednesday night. The win moves Navy's record to 10-11 overall and 3-3 in the Patriot League, while American falls to 11-10 overall and 3-3 in league play.

The win was just the second for Navy against American since the Eagles joined the Patriot League in 2001-02, and the first at Bender Arena since Jan. 26, 1991, and the third win ever at the facility.

"This is a monumental win for our program. We have not had any success here in the past and to come in here and play with the attitude, energy and focus we had tonight says a lot about this team," said Navy head coach Billy Lange. "I'm really proud of our effort on the defensive end. Our resiliency was great tonight and our team attitude was tremendous. It was a good effort all the way around."

Navy's defense was the key in the win over the Eagles. The Mids turned American over 17 times, despite the fact that American entered the game averaging a league-best 13.1 per game. Navy committed just eight turnovers on the contest, helping Navy overcome a minus-16 rebounding advantage, 47-31.

"We take great pride in turning teams over and American is so good at taking care of the ball. That was a huge positive for us and really helped us set the tempo we wanted to set," said Lange. "Our defense, particularly in the second half, was phenomenal."

The Mids also held American's top two scorers, Garrison Carr (17.4) and Derrick Mercer (14.5) to just a combined 19 points on 6-of-23 shooting. As a team, the Eagles shot just 30.3 percent after shooting 46.7 percent in the first half.

Meanwhile, the story for the Navy offense was the Cardiff by the Sea, Calif., native, Sprink. He scored 18 points in each half, connected on three three-pointers and was an astonishing 17-of-18 from the free throw line for his 36 points. It is the most by a Patriot League player this season, the most for a Navy player since Michael Heary scored 38 points against Holy Cross on Jan. 28, 1997, and the second most by a Navy player in a Patriot League game.

His 17 made free throws were the third most in a game in school history and the 36 points tied for the 20th-most points by a Navy player in a single game in school history.

Sprink has now scored at least 20 points in seven straight games and has scored at least 26 points in five of the six Patriot League games and is averaging 28.2 ppg in Patriot League play this year.

"We wanted to prove the team that played against Army wasn't what this team was about," said Sprink. "We really wanted to play as one defense tonight, and when we defend the way we can, we feel we can play with anyone. We came out with a sense of purpose, something that we need to do every game. Hopefully, this will get us going in the right direction."

The two teams traded leads in the first half, before American ended the half on a 9-2 run to take a 37-35 lead at the break.

Navy, however, quickly seized control in the second half with its defense. A Chris Harris (Mechanicsville, Va.) three-pointer with 15:16 to play gave Navy the lead for good at 45-42. During an eight-minute stretch in the second half, the Navy defense held American to just one field goal while stretching its lead to eight at 52-44 with 10:04 to play.

American would cut the lead to five three times in the final five minutes but a T.J. Topercer (Scottsdale, Ariz.) three-pointer with 1:43 to play pushed the Navy lead to 10 (72-62) and the Mids would cruise in for the 11-point victory, 77-66.

Besides Sprink's 36, Harris added 15 for the Mids, while Romeo Garcia (Cypress, Texas) and Kaleo Kina (Phoenix, Ariz.) scored seven each for Navy. Adam Teague (Hickory, N.C.) and Kina grabbed five rebounds, while Kina led the Mids with four assists.

Brian Gilmore scored 16 for American, while Travis Lay scored 15 points with nine rebounds.

As a team, Navy shot 38.6 percent (22-of-57) from the field, including 9-of-26 (.346) from the three-point line. The Mids went 24-of-27 (.889) from the free throw line.

American shot 38.1 percent from the field and 8-of-24 from three-point range.

The Mids will wrap up the first half of the Patriot League slate with a Saturday night tilt against Colgate (10-10 / 2-4 PL), beginning at 7:00 pm in Alumni Hall. For ticket information, please call 1-800-US4-NAVY.

# GO NAVY #