Jan. 13, 2007
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Lafayette men's basketball team suffered through a lackluster first half in which it committed 19 turnovers, as it struggled to a 60-44 loss at Navy on Saturday afternoon. Matt Betley led the Leopards with a career-high 19 points, including 17 in the second half, and 12 rebounds.
The Midshipmen came out firing on all cylinders from the opening tip, starting with a Greg Sprink three-pointer on their first possession. A Paul Cummins three-pointer got the Leopards on the board at the 18:28 mark. However, Navy would use an 11-0 run over the next eight minutes, finished off with two Sprink free-throws to give the Middies a 16-3 lead with 10:07 left before intermission.
Navy led by as many as 13 twice in the first half, the second coming off a Chris Harris three-pointer with 4:54 remaining in the opening frame to give the Midshipmen a 24-11 lead. The Leopards committed 19 first half turnovers and were plagued by foul trouble, as they trailed 28-16 at the break.
Navy would stretch its lead to as many as 18 in the second half, using a T.J. Topercer basket off a Chris Harris assist to give the Midshipmen a 44-26 lead with 10:56 remaining. The Leopards responded, as an Andrew Brown three-pointer finished a quick 7-0 Leopard run and trimmed the lead to 11 with 8:12 left.
The Midshipmen answered with a Sprink three-pointer to push the lead back to 14 and Lafayette was never able to spark a final push, falling to a 60-44 final score.
Betley led Lafayette with a career-high in both points (19) on 8-for-12 shooting and rebounds (12). Cummins was the only other Leopard in double figures, tallying 13 on the afternoon. Sprink led the Midshipmen with 23 points, followed by Adam Teague with 10.
Lafayette did manage to outrebound the Midshipmen, holding a 40-37 advantage on the boards, including 15 on the offensive end. Brown followed Betley's 12 boards with a career-high eight of his own.
The Leopards shot a season-low 30.8% (16-for-52) from the field and an uncharacteristic 5-for-25 from behind the arc. Lafayette committed 24 turnovers in the game.
Lafayette will use the next three days regroup and prepare to host Bucknell on Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Kirby Sports Center.
NOTES: The Midshipmen shot 80% (20-for-25) from the free-throw line. Sprink led Navy, going 10-for-10 from charity stripe.
Head coach Fran O'Hanlon used his tenth starting lineup of the season. Brown was joined by Bilal Abdullah and Paul Cummins in the backcourt, while Everest Schmidt and Ted Detmer got the nod in the frontcourt.
Lafayette was without Jamaal Hilliard (foot) who is expected to be out for at least another week.
