Feb. 15, 2008

Game Specifics Date and Tip Time Feb. 16, 2008 at 2:00 pm EST Location Easton, Pa. | Kirby Sports Center (3,500) Tickets 610-330-5471 Television CSTV Television Talent Gary Laubach (pxp), John Leone (Color), Dan Mowdy (Sideline) Video Streaming Navy All-Access / www.NavySports.com Radio WNAV (Annapolis; 1430 AM) | SIRIUS (Channel 125) Radio talent Bob Socci Webcast WNAV (Annapolis; 1430 AM) Gametracker None

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy looks to continue itts second-half surge with a key Saturday contest at Lafayette. The Mids evened their overall record at 12-12 and more importantly pushed their Patriot League mark to 5-4 with an 80-75 win over Lehigh on Wednesday night. Navy currently sits tied for second in the league standings with the Leopards.
• Saturday's game marks the second straight contest that will be televised, as CSTV will handle the action from the Kirby Sports Center. The game will be broadcast on the airwaves on both WNAV (1430 AM) and SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Channel 125). Bob Socci will handle the Navy call, beginning at 1:45 pm with the Navy Basketball pregame show.

NAVY NOTEBOOK
• Navy is at .500 for the first time since Novmber 11 (1-1) with a 12-12 overall record.
• The Mids are above .500 in league play for the first time since January 2002. Navy currently sits in second place in the Patriot League standings with a 5-4 record.
• Navy will be looking for its fourth straight Patriot League road win, currently sporting a 3-1 record on the road. The last time Navy won four straight Patriot League road games came on Jan. 23, 2000 to Feb. 21, 2000.
• Greg Sprink leads the Patriot League in scoring at 21.1 ppg. In league games only, he leads the league with a 24.3 ppg average.
• Sprink is one of three Patriot League players in league history with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists. Lafayette's Brian Ehlers and Colgate's Pat Campolieta are the others.
• Sprink currently has 1,638 points, needing 17 points to tie American's Andre Ingram (2004-07) for eighth place on the all-time Patriot League scoring list.
• The Navy trio of Greg Sprink, Kaleo Kina and Chris Harris have combined for 1,187 points, the seventh most by a Navy trio in school history. Sixth on the list is Erik Harris, Eddie Reddick and Nick Marusich (1991) with 1,224 points.
• At least one member of the trio has scored 20 or more points in each of the last 14 games. Seven different times in that span, two players have scored 20 or more points.
• Over the last 14 games, the trio has accounted for 58.5 ppg, or 73.0 percent of Navy's scoring.
• Head coach Billy Lange needs four more wins for 50 during his time at Navy.

THE LAST TIME OUT
• Kaleo Kina scored 22 points to lead four players in double-figures in Navy's 80-75 win over Lehigh. It marked the first time since the NJIT contest on Jan. 2 that Navy had four players score at least 10 points in a game.
• The Mids swept Lehigh for the first time since the 2001-02 season. The Mids have won three in a row against the Mountain Hawks for the first time since Feb. 24, 2001 to Feb. 9, 2002.
• The win gave Navy its third straight Patriot League road win and improved the Mids league road record to 3-1.
• The Mids domimated the glass against the Mountain Hawks, outrebounding them, 47-38. Navy used 17 offensive rebounds to score 23 second-chance points. Lehigh had just eight offensive rebounds and six second-chance points.
• Lehigh turned the ball over just 12 times, a season low by a Navy opponent this season.
• The trio of Greg Sprink, Kaleo Kina and Chris Harris each scored in double figures for the 14th time this season.
• Chris Harris set a new career high with five rebounds.
• The Mids went 25-of-29 from the free throw line. The 25 made free throws were a season high. Navy is 7-2 this year, and 28-7 under Billy Lange, when attempting more free throws than its opponent.
• Navy won for the first time this year (1-5 now) on TV, snapping a six-game losing streak in televised games.

MIDSHIPMEN-LEOPARDS QUICK FACTS
• Navy leads the all-time series, 38-22, but Lafayette won the year's first meeting, 103-99 in overtime, on Jan. 19.
• Lafayette leads the series in games played at the Kirby Sports Center at 5-2. Navy, however, won last year's meeting in Easton, 70-63, on Feb. 10.
• The two teams are tied as members of the Patriot League at 18 wins apiece. Navy went 20-4 against the Leopards prior to joining the Patriot League.
• The two teams won five-of-seven Patriot League Tournament championships from 1994 to 2000.
• Navy has no players on this year's roster from Pennsylvania. Lafayette's Michael Gruner hails from Bethesda, Md.
• Lafayette senior Bilal Abdullah scored 34 points in the first meeting. At the time, it was the fifth occurrence of a Patriot League player scoring 30 or more points against Navy in a league game. Army's Jarell Brown has since made it six times.

LAFAYETTE NOTEBOOK
• Lafayette enters the game with Navy owning a 14-10 overall record and a 5-4 league mark. The Leopards and Midshipmen are tied for second in the Patriot League.
• The Leopards dropped their last game, a 76-75 decision to Colgate. Matt Betley missed a game-tying free throw with no time left after being fouled on a three-point attempt. He had made the first two free throws. Betley led Lafayette with 15 points.
• Five other Lafayette players scored at least eight points.
• Lafayette started the league season 4-0, but has since gone 1-4 in the last five games.
• The Leopards rank fourth in the country in three-pointers made per game (10.5) and ninth in three-point percentage (.404).
• Individually, Andrew Brown leads three players in double figures at 16.6 ppg. Brown is 15th nationally in three-pointers made per game (3.9 per game) and 46th in three-point percentage (.419). Brown's 82 three-pointers are the third most in the Patriot League.
• Bilal Abdullah averages 14.4 ppg and Matt Betley averages 10.5 ppg and a team-best 5.9 rpg.
• The Leopards average 75.3 ppg, second in the league behind Navy. They allow 74.0 ppg, placing eighth in the league. • Lafayette is also getting outrebounded by a 3.6 per game margin (37.0 to 33.4).

Lafayette Projected Starters Pos. No.  Name Ht. Wt. Year  Stats / Notes G 4 Michael Gruner 6-1 180 So. 7.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.4 apg F 13 Everest Schmidt 6-7 270 Sr. 6.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg G 14 Andrew Brown 5-11 175 Jr. 16.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.8 apg F 21 Bilal Abdullah 6-5 200 Sr. 14.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.5 apg F 32 Matt Betley 6-4 200 Sr. 10.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg

Navy Projected Starters Pos. No.  Name Ht. Wt. Year  Stats / Notes G 3 Greg Sprink 6-5 220 Sr. 21.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.7 apg G 5 Chris Harris 6-2 175 So. 13.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.8 spg G 15 Romeo Garcia 6-4 202 Fr. 3.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg G 24 Kaleo Kina 6-4 210 Jr. 14.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.8 spg C 44 Mark Veazey 6-10 215 Fr. 4.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg

THE FIRST MEETING THIS YEAR
• Perhaps the game of the year so far in Patriot League, Lafayette edged Navy, 103-99 in overtime, in the team's first meeting on Jan. 19, in Annapolis.
• The Mids led by 15 with 13 minutes to play, before Lafayette heated up and sent the game into the extra session, where it won its NCAA record-tying sixth overtime contest of the season.
• Navy's Greg Sprink (33), Kaleo Kina (18) and Chris Harris (26) combined for 77 points, 16 rebounds and 21 assists in the loss. Both Sprink (33 pts, 12 rebs) and Kina (18 pts, 10 asts) recorded double-doubles for the Midshipmen.
• Lafayette's Bilal Abdullah led all scorers with 34 points, and Andrew Brown added 18 points. Lafayette would shoot 52.1 percent for the contest, including 63.0 percent in the second half.
• The top five scorers in the game (Navy's Sprink, Kina and Harris and Lafayette's Abdullah and Brown) combined for 129 points between all of them.
• The 202 points were the fifth-most points in a game in school history and the most since Dec. 28, 1990.
• Navy allowed a team to score 100 points for the first time since Jan. 22, 1992 (Lehigh 106, Navy 86).
• The loss snapped a four-game overtime winning streak for the Midshipmen.
• Navy's 99 points were the second most points ever scored by Navy in a loss.

RECENT NAVY TRENDS
• Navy has scored at least 67 points in all but two games this year (58 vs. Mount St. Mary's and 65 vs. Howard). Navy has scored at least 67 points in 13 straight games, posting a 9-4 mark during that span.
• Navy is averaging just 12.1 ppg from its bench in league play this year.
• Navy is 7-2 this year (28-7 under Billy Lange) when attempting more free throws than its foe.
• Navy has led or been tied at halftime in 19 of the 24 games it has played in.
• The Mids are 12-7 when scoring 70 or more points this year and 6-1 when scoring 80 or more.
• Navy has averaged at least 1.00 point per possession in 13 games this year, owning a 10-3 mark when reaching that goal.
• Greg Sprink, Kaleo Kina and Chris Harris have combined for 59 double-figure scoring games this year. The rest of the team has 11 such games.
• When Sprink, Kina and Harris each score in double figures this year, the Mids are just 7-7.
• When Kaleo Kina scores 20 or more points in a game, the Mids are 5-2 this year.
• The Mids have already outrebounded three league opponents this year. Last year, Navy outrebounded just one league foe. The Mids are 7-3 overall this year when outrebounding its opponent.
• The Mids rank tied for sixth nationally in forcing turnovers at 19.0 per game. Tennessee and Cal State Northridge lead the nation at 19.7 turnovers forced per game.
• Navy is just 4-6 when forcing 20 or more turnovers this year. Conversely, Navy is 4-2 when forcing 15 or fewer turnovers.
• Navy has won seven straight games when holding opponents under 45.0 percent shooting.
• The Mids have made 10 or more three-pointers 11 different times this year, posting a 6-5 record in those games.
• In games that Navy has attempted 20 or fewer three-pointers, the Mids are 3-1.
• Navy has held a double-digit lead at some point in seven-of-nine Patriot League games.
• Navy is shooting 83.2 percent from the free throw line in four Patriot League road games.

# GO NAVY #