Lots of stakes in doubleheader vs. Army
Midshipmen women seek to send seniors out with a Star; men look to sweep archrival
Alumni Hall will be packed to the rafters, and the Brigade of Midshipmen will surely fuel a raucous atmosphere for Saturday’s Army-Navy basketball doubleheader.
This is the second meeting of the regular season for the archrivals and will count as the Star games.
Coach Ed DeChellis is hopeful the Navy men can replicate the heart, determination and poise they displayed in coming from behind to beat Army, 77-71, at West Point. After trailing most of the way, the Midshipmen seized control of a back-and-forth contest in the final three minutes.
“We were fortunate to find a way to win up at Army,” DeChellis said. “We clamped down defensively at crunch time and made a lot of winning plays down the stretch.”
Meanwhile, the Navy women will need to get off to a better start in order to turn around the result from January. The young, inexperienced Mids were a bit awestruck by the atmosphere at Christl Arena and fell behind by 10 points after one period, having to play catch up the rest of the way.
“It’s three things. We’ve got to play better defense. We’ve got to rebound the ball better and we need to have a better IQ on offense,” Navy women’s coach Tim Taylor listed as keys to victory.
Quickly scanning the final statistics, one wonders how the Army men allowed the first matchup to slip away. The Black Knights shot 50% from the floor and outrebounded the Midshipmen. Navy’s goal each game is to hold opponents in the 60s for scoring. Army’s 71 points would have normally doomed the Mids.
However, the Mids scored 21
points off 17 Black Knights turnovers, mostly coming in the second half. It was the only Patriot League game this season that Navy won in which both teams scored in the 70s.
“In the second half we were able to knock some balls free and got some run-outs. We forced some turnovers and turned them into points,” DeChellis said.
“The frustrating part was that we led for most of the game and didn’t finish,” Army coach Jimmy Allen said. “Navy plays a lot of seniors and juniors, while we play a lot of sophomores and freshmen. I thought their experience and toughness down the stretch was the key.”
Senior guard Christian Jones was the offensive catalyst for Navy, coming off the bench to score a career-high 21 points on the strength of four 3-pointers.
“Somebody always seems to poke their head up in this game. Last time it was Chris Jones that gave our team a lift,” DeChellis said.
Navy held Jalen Rucker, a Gilman graduate and Army’s leading scorer to 15 points, right as his average. But the Midshipmen allowed forward Chris Mann to explode for a team-high 28 points on 11-for-15 shooting. The 6-foot-6 senior averages 10.2 points.
“We certainly need to do a better job on Mann. We let him get going, and he gained confidence. He drove the ball to the basket and scored on multiple guys,” DeChellis said. “We need to make him a catchand-shoot guy. We can’t let him back us down and score around the basket.”
Navy will once again be without senior forward Nate Allison, who has missed three straight games with an ankle injury. Allison is the primary backup for Daniel Deaver at the five spot. DeChellis has been using junior Tony Atkinson and freshman Aidan Kehoe to spell Deaver.
This very well could be the last game against the archrival for eight Navy seniors, who are only guaranteed to play six more games in their career.
“I keep telling them the sand is coming through the hourglass and it’s going to run out soon,” DeChellis said. “I think this time of the year our seniors can make a difference. You need your senior leaders to step up, especially in a game of this magnitude.”
Navy (14-11, 7-6) has won six of its last seven to move into a tie for fourth place in the Patriot League standings. Army (14-12, 8-5) is in sole possession of third place, making Saturday’s game critical toward seeding for the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. Top four finishers are guaranteed a home game in the first round.
Sabrina Hunter notched a double-double with 23 points and 17 rebounds as Army led wire-to-wire in beating Navy, 75-61, at Christl Arena. Freshman guard Reese Ericson scored a career-high 24 points for the Black Knights.
Taylor said Navy needs to do a better job of defending Ericson off ball screens as that is how she did most of her damage.
Freshman guard Maren Louridas scored 20 points to lead Navy, which shot just 39% (23-59) from the field. Senior wing Lindsay Llewellyn (15 points) was the only other player in double figures for the Mids.
Army face-guarded junior forward Sydne Watts, who was limited to eight points on 4-for-11 shooting. Watts, the team’s leading scorer at 13.3 points per game, must find a way to produce even if the Black Knights choose to again deny her the ball.
“Sydne, Marin and Lindsey need to have big games for us to be successful. They have to be able to score and make shots,” Taylor said.
In reviewing the initial Army-Navy game this week, Taylor was disappointed with his squad’s offensive execution. Poor decision-making prevented the Mids from getting layups and open looks from the perimeter.
“Watching the tape, we missed a lot of offensive opportunities. We need to make better reads. We have to take what Army is giving us,” Taylor said.
Navy, which plays five freshmen, is still trying to figure out how to put together a complete game. A consistent theme this season has been scoreless stretches doom the Mids.
“We’ll play good basketball for 34 minutes then have one or two bad stretches,” Taylor said. “We have those three- or four-minute lapses when teams go on 10-0 runs, and a lot of it is because of turnovers. We need to limit the turnovers in this game.”
A win would mean a lot to Navy’s three seniors — Llewellyn, Imani Edmonds and captain Mimi Schrader. They have never beaten Army in a Star game, although there have only been two so far in their careers. In 2020, the Star game was canceled because Navy was in COVID protocols.
“You want to give these seniors something they can hang their hats on,” Taylor said. “Whenever you have a Star on that letter sweater, it’s special.”