Feb. 20, 2008
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy outscored Holy Cross, 29-17, in the final 12 minutes to rally for a 72-66 win over the Crusaders on Wednesday night in Alumni Hall. The win was Navy's fourth in a row and pushes its record to 14-12 overall and 7-4 in the Patriot League. Holy Cross, which had won three in a row entering the game, fell to 14-11 overall and 5-7 in league play.
The four-game Patriot League winning streak is the longest for the Navy program since the 2000-01 season and keeps the Mids within a game-and-a-half of front-runner American (9-3) in the Patriot League standings.
In addition, coupled with Navy's 85-74 win over Holy Cross on Jan. 23, the Mids have swept Holy Cross for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, and move three games over .500 in league play for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
"I was proud of how we responded even when we didn't shoot well. We are learning how to execute down the stretch and gut out close wins and that is the sign of our mauturity," said Navy head coach Billy Lange. "We talked about all week not looking at the finish line, but just looking at the game directly ahead of us.
"We have so much respect for Holy Cross and the program they are that we have learned from them and what it takes to win," said Lange. "I thought we made some big plays down the stretch, led by Greg Sprink."
Sprink led the Mids with 25 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and scored many key baskets for the Mids down the stretch. He moved into a tie for third place with Kevin Sinnett (1,687 points) on the Navy career scoring list.
"It's been a long journey so far, but tonight was a testament to the way we want to win and the way we want to play," said Sprink. "Holy Cross in the past years has taught us how to win, and to finish it tonight when we didn't shoot that great, says a lot about our team."
The Mids started fast, jumping out to a 16-7 advantage six minutes into the game. However, Holy Cross tightened its defense and after an early 4-of-4 shooting performance, Navy finished the half connecting on just six of its last 23 shots, while the Crusaders took a 30-29 halftime lead.
Holy Cross would increase the lead to 49-43 with 12 minutes to play, behind the play of Tim Clifford. The 6-11, 260-pound center scored a career-high 34 points, including 15 of Holy Cross' first 19 points of the second half.
"Clifford is a great player and we knew we were going to have our hands full with him," said Lange. "We were matched up with young guys on him and he took advantage. But I thought we did a great job on the other guys and didn't get so overextended on him that we got burned on the outside."
Navy would embark on a 17-4 run over the next seven minutes to grab a 60-53 lead with 4:57 to play.
Holy Cross cut the lead to two points twice in the final three minutes, the last time coming at 68-66 with 56 seconds left. After a Kaleo Kina miss, Holy Cross had the chance to tie or take the lead, but Pat Doherty missed a driving lay-up and Mark Veazey (Lilburn, Ga.) corraled the rebound.
Sprink and Chris Harris connected on a pair of free throws each in the final nine seconds to ice away the victory.
The Mids won despite shooting just 35.0 percent (21-of-60) from the field, but shot 92.0 percent (23-of-25) from the free throw line and forced Holy Cross into 19 turnovers, while committing just 11 themselves.
Chris Harris added 23 points and career highs in rebounds (7) and steals (5), while shooting 10-of-10 from the free throw line. He also set the Navy single-season three-pointers made record, currently with 79.
The win allowed Navy to stay within a game-and-a-half in the Patriot League standings with American.
"Its hard to understand how to be a champion without having been a champion," said Lange. "I thought we have always played with great intensity, but this year we are becoming more poised and focused. We know that we have to be focused on one game at a time down the stretch run. We just want to be playing our best basketball as we enter March."
Kaleo Kina would add 12 points, three assists and three steals and freshman Romeo Garcia scored 10 points with three assists.
The Mids will travel to Army for the annual Star Game on Saturday for a 2:00 pm tip-off at West Point's Christl Arena. The Black Knights defeated the Mids, 69-67, on Jan. 27 in Annapolis.
"We understand the importance of the Army game, but we also understand that it is just one game in a long Patriot League season," said Lange.
"It's just another game in our learning process," said Sprink. "We aren't looking ahead, just one game at a time, and we feel confident that if we can play Navy basketball, we will be in good shape. We don't want our emotion to get in the way of execution as we go down the stretch."
# GO NAVY #
