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Feb. 2, 2008

Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Colgate shot a blistering 61.5 percent from the field in the second half and outscored Navy, 49-41, in the final 20 minutes to take an 84-77 victory in men's basketball action on Saturday night at Alumni Hall. The loss drops Navy to 10-12 overall and 3-4 in the Patriot League, while Colgate improves to 11-10 and 3-4.

The Mids are now just 1-3 at home in the Patriot League and have led at halftime in all four of their league losses. Colgate has also won six games in a row against Navy, and 11 of the last 12 contests.

"We have been playing with fire lately defensively, and tonight we finally got burned," said Navy head coach Billy Lange. "Until we start to take pride in our defense, we will find it tough to win games where we don't shoot well. Right now, we have a locker room full of guys that don't believe in defense. We gotta find guys that can play it."

Colgate would use a 13-0 run in the first half to take a 19-10 lead with 13:57 to play, but Navy rallied with a 10-0 run of its own for a 20-19 advantage with 10:26 to play. The two teams then traded leads for the rest of the half with Navy holding on to a slim 36-35 lead at the break.

The Mids then stretched the lead to 41-35 just a minute and a half into the second half, before Colgate seized control with a quick 12-0 run for a 47-41 lead with 16:00 to play. The Mids would get no closer than four points the rest of the way, as the Raiders scored several key baskets when Navy would need a key defensive stop.

Colgate shot a sizzling 16-of-26 (.615) from the field in the second half and was 29-of-50 (.580) for the entire contest. The Raiders won the contest, despite turning the ball over 22 times and giving up 22 offensive rebounds to Navy.

Meanwhile, Navy shot an icy 28-of-77 (.364) from the field and were just 7-of-29 (.241) from the three-point line. Navy committed just 14 turnovers and were outrebounded 40-38.

The Navy trio of Greg Sprink, Kaleo Kina and Chris Harris each scored in double figures but shot just a combined 18-of-58 (.310) from the field. Sprink was just 3-of-23, while Harris went 6-of-14 and Kina was 9-of-21.

"It was just one of those nights for Greg. Give credit to Colgate's defense, they made it tough for him," said Lange. "I don't think we made very good decisions when we got in the lane tonight. I thought we forced a lot of shots in there."

Kina led the Mids with 21 points and three assists, while Harris had 15 points and Sprink had 10.

"If we are going to go up and down on offense, we have to get stops defensively and tonight it didn't happen," said Kina. "We have to have the same mentality on offense and defense. There is no excuses for our defensive effort. We have to approach every game the same and we didn't do that."

Freshman Mark Veazey had a strong game for Navy with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks. Adam Teague also added nine points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Freshman Mike Venezia led five Raiders in double figures with 18 points, while Kendall Chones added 17 points and nine rebounds. Alex Woodhouse had 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.

The Mids will have a week off before starting the second round of Patriot League play. Navy will host Bucknell, next Saturday night at 7:00 pm in Alumni Hall.

# GO NAVY #