Army takes down Navy in Annapolis, 73-66

One Army-Navy matchup wasn’t enough on Saturday, as the Navy Men (11-7, 5-2) took on the Army Men (8-10, 3-4) immediately following the end of the women’s game. This marked the 88th consecutive year the two teams played with Navy holding a commanding 80-51 all-time lead. Navy also leads Army 18-10 in games played at The Yard.

Ultimately, Navy couldn’t keep up on the day and Army led for 38:52 of the game. This puts the Black Knights at .500 in the Patriot league and it’s the 4th win in 5 years for Army at Alumni Hall.

How It Happened

Army controlled the opening tip and used up nearly the entire shot clock but came up empty. Navy took the turnover and Loehr turned it into a quick three pointer to get the scoring started. The Black knights then rattled off 7 quick points from Tommy Funk to take an early lead. Greg Summers carried the early burden for Navy with 5 points as they trailed 12-11 after five minutes.

Sean Yoder tied things up at 14 and a quick turnover by Army’s Lonnie Grayson gave the Mids a chance to take the lead. They couldn’t turn it into points however, and Matt Wilson put the Black Knights back ahead. After the first 8 minutes of the half Army led 18-16 with 9 points from Tommy Funk and 4 from Matt Wilson. Greg Summers added 7 for the Mids.

The scoring slowed down a little bit at the midpoint of the first half, but Army maintained a 22-18 lead. Cam Davis reached 5 points for Navy but Matt Wilson kept the Black Knights ahead with a layup. Tommy Funk missed a three pointer but Josh Caldwell secured the rebound by bouncing the ball off of a Navy player’s shoe on his way out of bounds to keep the lead at 26-24 in favor of Army.

Tucker Blackwell drained his first points of the game on a three and Tommy Funk reached 13 to lead all scorers and extend the lead to 33-26. The Black Knights continued their early efficiency on 79% shooting through the first 16 minutes. Both teams cooled off to end the half though, with a two minute scoring drought on both ends of the court.

Navy finally broke the streak with two free throws by Evan Wieck to cut into the lead slightly. Josh Caldwell and Tommy Funk fixed things for Army and extended the lead to 10 with a few seconds left before the half but a foul by Blackwell gave the Mids a chance to shoot 3 free throws before half, of which they made 2 to enter the locker rooms down 40-32.

The second half opened with some determination from Navy on both ends of the floor as John Carter Jr. hit a 3 almost immediately. Army kept the lead just out of reach at 8 points with layups from both Funk and Caldwell to make it 46-38 after 4 minutes.

Army extended the lead to double digits by the 12 minute mark of the second half and Navy missed 7 of 8 shots while Tommy Funk reached 20 to put the Black Knights up 54-42. Navy actually led the rebound battle much of the game, but Army was efficient in scoring off of Navy’s numerous turnovers. A quick blink and Matt Wilson reached 14 points to give the Black Knights a 58-42 lead and force a Navy timeout.

Cam Davis broke yet another Navy scoring drought with 9:02 left to play to cut the lead to 58-44. The Mids had another chance to score points but Tommy Funk grabbed a rebound to send it the other way. Cam Davis kept the team on his back as he sank another shot to reach 16 points on the day. Navy had the benefit of a 4:56 scoring drought by Army and they cut the lead back to single digits with 5 minutes to play.

Navy proved they weren’t going to go quietly, cutting the lead to 59-53 with an 11-1 run. A Cam Davis 3-pointer cut the lead down to 5 and put him at 21 points for the day to go along with Evan Wieck’s 13 points. Tommy Funk and Matt Wilson continued to carry the team with 20 and 18 points respectively.

Army took a 66-60 lead entering the final minute of the game and got extremely lucky Navy couldn’t convert on a careless turnover. Navy was forced to foul in order to save clock and Army made both shots to go up 68-60. No matter what, the lean, mean, scoring machine Cam Davis refused to quit. He responded to Caldwell’s free throws with his 4th 3-pointer of the game to make it 69-63 with just 17 seconds to play.

Funk added his first points in what felt like forever to put Army ahead 71-63 and ultimately ice the game. Despite Luke Loehr’s final attempt, Army held on to win 73-66 in Annapolis.

Players of the Game

Tommy Funk is the obvious choice for Army’s player of the game, racking up 26 points and 6 assists. He was far from the only productive Black Knight, as Josh Caldwell registered a double-double and Matt Wilson added 18 points of his own. Navy’s player of the game is Cam Davis. He matched Funk in points and kept the Midshipmen in the fight down to the final minutes of the game.

What’s Next?

Navy will take on Holy Cross in Annapolis on January 29 at the same time as the Navy Women compete at Holy Cross. Army will take on Bucknell at home on the same day.