ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A game-closing 10-2 run by the Navy men's basketball team gave it a 61-54 victory over Army, Saturday in Alumni Hall in Annapolis in the annual Star Game between the two service academy programs.
The Army-Navy Star Series is presented by USAA, which also was today's game sponsor.
"It was a really hard-fought game," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis, who today tied the record for the most games as a head coach in the series with his 29th game, and also improved to 9-5 in Star Games. "I thought defensively we were pretty good. Offensively, we have a little work to do. But we found a way to grind it out. The two runs toward the end of the game ... we had a run, they went back on one; that's just how the game always is. We didn't shoot it great, we didn't do a lot of things great, but we found a way to win the game.
"It wasn't pretty. This game usually is not pretty. Kids on both sides are just fighting their tails off. It is fun to watch them compete."
Army took a 28-26 lead at the halftime. There were four ties and six lead changes in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Black Knights took early second-half leads of 38-33 and 41-34. The Mids answered with a 15-0 run to give them a 49-41 advantage with 7:43 still to play.
Army saw its scoring drought end after eight minutes with a quick seven-point surge of its own to pull to within 49-48 with 6:11 showing on the clock. Austin Benigni scored on a drive to the basket (51-48), but Army responded with back-to-back field goals to take a 52-51 lead with 4:27 left to play.
The Mids again had an empty possession, but a charging foul on the Black Knights returned the ball to Navy with 3:45 remaining.
Navy quickly sent the ball inside to Aidan Kehoe, who scored to give the Mids a 53-52 lead.
Army's Jalen Rucker, who leads the Patriot League in scoring and totaled 18 points today, missed a three-point shot on the following possession. Donovan Draper grabbed the board for the Mids with just over three minutes left. Jordan Pennick missed a shot for the Mids, but Draper came down with the carom and was fouled. Shooting the bonus, he made both foul shots to make it a 55-52 game with 2:33 left.
Army missed a three-point shot, but grabbed the offensive board. That sequence repeated itself, then the Mids were called for a foul with 1:44 left to play. The Black Knights inbounded the ball and turned it over seven seconds later when Pennick drew a charging foul.
Jinwoo Kim missed a three-point shot for Navy just before the shot clock expired, with Army coming away with the long rebound with 66 seconds remaining. Army hd a little bit of a runout after the board, which led to the Black Knights going to the foul line when the Mids committed a foul. A.J. Allenspach made both attempts to narrow the margin down to 55-54 with 1:01 left to play.
Navy advanced the ball over halfcourt and Army purposely fouled Kehoe when the ball was sent to him at the top of the key. Kehoe missed the front end of the bonus, but Draper fought for and wrestled away the offensive rebound and was immediately fouled with 48.0 seconds remaining. He drained both attempts to stretch the lead to three points (57-54).
"Draper took that part (rebounding) over," said DeChellis. "That's the challenge to him in timeouts ... 'make a play; go rebound the ball. Get out of your area and go rebound the ball.' Credit to him in that he did that."
The Mids committed a foul when Benigni was whistled for one while playing close defense. It still was not enough to send Army to the foul line, though, so Army called timeout with 32.9 seconds remaining. Navy played tight defense once play resumed. Josh Scovens missed a field goal attempt and Benigni was there for defensive rebound. He was fouled with 14.7 seconds left to play. The current leader at Navy for career free throw percentage calmly sank two attempts from the line to make the score 59-54.
Army tried a pair of three-point attempts on its next time down the floor. Pennick was there for the defensive rebound after the second errant shot with just one second left. He closed out the scoring with two made foul shots.
"Proud of our guys," said DeChellis. "I thought we made plays down the stretch. It is hard to win. We shoot 39 percent from the floor and 27 percent from three. The kids found a way to win because they defended and they rebounded."
The few statistical differences between the teams were rebounding and foul shooting. Navy held a 40-31 overall edge on the glass, which included a 15-9 lead in offensive boards. That led to the Mids holding a 19-3 advantage in second-chance points. Additionally, Navy was 16-25 from the charity stripe while Army was 10-13.
Individually, Benigni scored 21 points, Pennick totaled 17 points and five rebounds, Draper tallied nine points and eight rebounds and Kehoe recorded seven points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three assists. Not to be lost in those numbers was the consistent play on both ends of the floor by Mike Woods, who did post four points, six rebounds and three assists.
"Everyone was just solid today," said DeChellis. "I don't think anybody was 'wow.' I thought Rucker for them was 'wow' for awhile there. Everyone else just did their job and stayed focused, and kind of fight through it."