ARMY 73, NAVY 66 Army brought the Funk
Senior point guard scores 26 points and dishes off 6 assists in win over archrival
Navy coach Ed DeChellis described Tommy Funk as the “straw that stirs the drink” for the Army men’s basketball team.
Funk was stirring things constantly throughout Saturday’s Army-Navy game. The savvy senior point guard was the consummate floor general from start to finish in leading the Black Knights past the Midshipmen.
Funk scored 26 points and added six assists as Army controlled the contest most of the way in beating Navy 73-66 before an announced crowd of 5,316 at Alumni Hall.
Funk set the tone early by taking the ball strong to the basket and his playmaking skills were the main reason the Black Knights shot almost 56% from the field.
“That’s what the team looks to me to do — get into the lane and create. I was able to finish at the rim a few times in a row to begin the game and I think that opened things up,” Funk said. “My mentality is to always get into the paint and get good shots for guys.”
Senior center Matt Wilson scored 18 points on 9-for-11 field goal shooting for Army (9-10, 4-4 Patriot League), which has won four in a row. Sophomore guard Josh Caldwell posted 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Black Knights, who led for almost 37 of 40 minutes.
Funk and Wilson combined to account for 44 of Army’s 73 points while displaying an intensity and desire that motivated the whole team.
“Both these guys as seniors have meant so much to Army basketball,” Army coach
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Jimmy Allen said. “They are two of the best players in the history of Army basketball and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of this journey with them. They have been everything you want as a coach.”
Junior point guard Cam Davis scored 26 points to lead Navy (11-8, 5-3), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Senior center Evan Wieck totaled 13 points and eight rebounds for the Midshipmen, who made just 9 of 26 3-pointers and 5 of 12 free throws.
“We didn’t play our best game at all, and it feels as though they played one of their best games of the season,” Davis said. “It’s a rivalry game and everything is magnified. All the mistakes mean so much more.”
DeChellis reviewed the final boxscore during the postgame press conference and immediately noticed a couple statistics that stood out. The Midshipmen were outscored 40-18 in the paint, managed just 10 second-chance points off 13 offensive rebounds, got only five points from the bench and finished with zero fastbreak points.
“They got 40 points in the paint, so they’re getting 2-foot shots. I probably should have gone to the zone earlier and stayed with it. That’s my fault,” DeChellis said. “I thought they made it really hard for us to score. We didn’t shoot the ball very well. We had 13 offensive rebounds, but we didn’t turn them into points.”
Navy prides itself on shutting down opponents and came in leading the Patriot League in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. Army shot 60% from the field in taking a 40-32 halftime lead and didn’t cool off much after intermission.
“Defensively, I thought we were very, very poor in the first half and they were able to get into a rhythm. I don’t remember a team that’s scored 40 against us in one half,” DeChellis said. “Credit to them, they’re playing really well offensively of late. They’re sharing the ball and shooting it well.”
In previewing the game, DeChellis pointed out that Funk has the ball in his hands 90% of the time and said it would be crucial to make it tough for him to create offense for others.
“(Funk) drove right by us. We didn’t guard him good enough,” DeChellis said. “We didn’t guard anybody today. We were a step slow on everything. We were behind the ball the whole game.”
Davis started guarding Funk but gave way to sophomore Greg Summers after getting beaten to the basket three times for layups in the early going.
“He’s a great player and credit to them for getting him the ball in position where he could come off ball screens and attack downhill,” Davis said of Funk. “That definitely wasn’t our best effort defensively.”
Navy led for all of 18 seconds after junior forward Luke Loehr made a 3-pointer to start the game.
Summers scored off a nifty spin move in the lane to forge a 16-16 tie at the 12:36 mark of the first half but trailed the rest of the way.
“It’s a huge, emotional, exciting, awesome rivalry. We talk all the time about how fortunate we all are to be part of a game like this, and you need to enjoy it,” Allen said. “I thought our guys came prepared well, came into the game with the right mindset then executed. This is a very, very good win for our basketball team.”