Feb. 25, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy freshman Romeo Garcia has earned Patriot League Anaconda Rookie of the Week accolades after helping the Navy men's basketball team to a pair of big wins last week. It marks the second time this season that a Navy freshman has earned Rookie of the Week accolades after classmate Mark Veazey (Lilburn, Ga.) won the league's first Rookie of the Week citation way back on Nov. 12.

Garcia, a 6-4 guard from Cypress, Texas, averaged nine points, three rebounds and two assists per game as Navy went undefeated in a pair of games last week. In last Wednesday's 72-66 win over Holy Cross, Garcia scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting with two rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal. The 10 points marked his second career double-figure scoring game. He then added eight points on 3-of-5 shooting with four rebounds and an assist in Saturday's 71-63 win over Army. He buried a pair of big three-pointers and three of his four rebounds were of the offensive variety against Army, resulting in eight second-chance points for the Mids.

Garcia is sixth on the team in scoring at 4.2 ppg and fifth in rebounding at 3.6 rpg. He has blocked 16 shots on the season, the eighth most in school history by a Navy freshman, and has 31 assists and 24 steals while boasting a stellar 1.41 assist-to-turnover ratio. He needs just one steal and nine rebounds to become the second Navy freshman in school history to score 100 points, grab 100 rebounds, dish out 30 assists and grab 25 steals.

In league play, Garcia is averaging 5.6 ppg and 4.1 rpg and is shooting 52.4 percent (22-of-42) from the field.

Garcia and his teammates host American on Wednesday night in Alumni Hall in a battle for first place in the Patriot League. The Mids are 15-12 overall and 8-4 in the Patriot League, while American is 17-10 overall and 9-3 in league play. Navy has already clinched a home game for the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals on March 5. For ticket information, call 1-800-US4-NAVY.

# GO NAVY #