ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Army (9-10, 4-4 Patriot League) shot 55 percent from the field and scored 40 points in the paint to defeat the Navy men's basketball team (11-8, 5-3), 73-66, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.  The result extended the winning streak for the Black Knights to four games and halted a three-game winning streak for the Mids.
 
"As I told the kids before the game," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis, "the team that made the least amount of mistakes would win this game."
 
Army held a slim lead for the majority of the first half before an 11-2 run gave it a 35-26 advantage with just over five minutes remaining.  The lead would grow to 10 points at 40-30 before the Black Knights took a 40-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Army shot 60.7 percent (17-28) from the field in the first half and limited Navy to a mark of 44.4 percent (12-27).  Tommy Funk scored 16 points for the Black Knights in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
 
"Defensively, I thought we were very, very poor in the first half," said DeChellis.  "They were able to get into a rhythm.  I can't remember when a team scored 40 against us in one half.  Credit to them; they are playing well offensively over the last few games."
 
Navy made it a two-possession game at 46-40 early in the second half, but Army stretched its advantage out to 16 points at 58-42 with just under 10 minutes remaining on the clock. 
 
Cam Davis (Jr., Battlefield, Mo.) started to catch fire for Navy and brought the Mids to within five points at 63-58 with 3:06 left to play.  His three-point field goal was answered on the other end by a triple from Army's Tucker Blackwell.  Davis hit a jumper on the returning possession to make the score 66-60 with 1:43 remaining.
 
John Carter Jr. (So., Spring Hill, Tenn.), stole the ball to end the next Army offensive opportunity, but his driving layup was blocked by Alex King.  Funk snared the rebound and was fouled by Davis.  Funk would make two free throws to push the score out to 68-60 with 1:06 left.
 
Both teams had several empty possessions before Josh Caldwell made one of two free throws for Army with 25 seconds remaining.  A Davis triple, his fourth of the game, drew Navy to within 69-63 with 20 seconds left.  Funk was fouled two seconds later and made both attempts to stretch the lead out to three possessions –– 71-63 –– with 18 seconds remaining.
 
The Black Knights cooled off slightly in the second half but still shot a healthy 50 percent from the floor to end the game with an overall mark of 55.8 percent. The Mids also shot a little poorer after halftime, 37.8 percent, to total a 40.6-percent effort for the game.  Navy was 9-26 (34.6%) from three-point range and Army was 5-19 (26.3%) from beyond the arc on the afternoon.  Additionally, Navy was just 5-12 (41.7%) from the foul line in contrast to the 10-16 (62.5%) showing from the stripe by Army.
 
"We didn't guard anyone," said DeChellis.  "They drove right by us in the first half.  In the second half, I thought we were a little better.  But they shoot 55 percent for the game, 50 percent in the second half.  We didn't guard at all; (we were) a step slow the whole game."
 
The Black Knights scored 22 points in the paint in the first half and 18 points in the paint after halftime.  Navy totaled 18 such points for the game.
 
"Credit them; they made shots, they made plays," said DeChellis.  "Defensively, we weren't where we needed to be; defensively, they were.  They made it really hard for us to score."
 
Funk and Davis each scored 26 points on the afternoon.  For Davis, the output was a new career high. 
 
"It was just one of those games," said Davis. "We didn't play well at all and it seems they played one of their best games of the season."
 
"He (Davis) carried us again," said DeChellis.  "He put us on his back and made some shots."
 
Also scoring in double figures for Navy was Evan Wieck (Sr., Amarillo, Texas) with 13 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Matt Wilson added 18 points for Army.
 
Navy will play host to Holy Cross Wednesday at 7 p.m.