WEST POINT, N.Y. – The defensive effort remained for the Lafayette men's basketball team in West Point, N.Y. on Wednesday evening, but the offensive struggles unfortunately also continued as the Leopards dropped a 65-48 contest to Army.
 
The Leopards allowed less 70 points for the third straight outing, but countered that on the other end with their lowest scoring output of the conference slate. The loss drops Lafayette's overall record to 15-9 and moves the Maroon and White to 7-6 in Patriot League action, while Army improves to 12-12 overall and 7-6 in conference play.
 
The shots just wouldn't fall for the Leopards, who trailed for just the seventh time this season at the break, 31-23. A run around five minutes into the second stanza erased that advantage to tie the game at 39-39, but Army gradually moved its lead back out from there to finish off the 65-48 final.
 
Junior co-captain Justin Jaworski and senior Kyle Stout were the lone Leopards in double-figure scoring at 13 and 11 points, respectively. Senior co-captain Myles Cherry added 12 rebounds for his eighth double-digit rebound game of the season.
 
Lafayette knocked down just 6-of-30 from beyond the arc (20.0%) and went 19-of-62 overall (30.6%), a season low. Army's Matt Wilson led all scorers with a double-double of 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
Freshman Neal Quinn got the scoring started for the Maroon and White with a pretty post move and Jaworski's back cut and finish through a foul answered six straight from Army to make it 8-5 early. The Black Knights moved their advantage out to eight at 13-5, but seven back, capped by a Stout triple from the left wing made it a 13-12 game midway through the half.
 
Army moved back up six with less than six minutes to play in the half, but back-to-back triples from Stout and Jaworski trimmed the deficit to two at 25-23 with 3:33 to go. The home side closed the final stretch with the final six points, though, to take a 31-23 advantage into the intermission.
 
After trading buckets over the first two minutes, sophomore Tyrone Perry's triple from the left wing sparked an 8-2 run for the Maroon and White that brought the margin to two, 37-35. Stout's third three minutes later tied it a 39-39, but six straight from the home side served to counter, forcing a Lafayette timeout at the 12:08 mark with the Army lead back to six, 45-39.
 
Army gradually stretched its edge over the next six minutes to lead by 13, 54-41, with six minutes remaining. The comeback didn't materialize over the final stretch as that run proved to be the deciding factor as Lafayette fell by a final of 65-48.
 
Lafayette heads back to the road for its next outing on Saturday, traveling to Worcester, Massachusetts for a meeting with Holy Cross at 2 p.m.