Men’s Basketball Takes 2OT Thriller From Navy

Saturday, February 20

Annapolis, MD

1:30 PM

Army West Point

17-11, 8-8PL

Navy

18-11, 9-7PL

OT 1

OT 2

Army West Point

Navy

Men’s Basketball Takes 2OT Thriller From Navy

February 20, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Kyle Wilson's three-pointer at the end of regulation sent the game to overtime and Kevin Ferguson's putback with 0.7 seconds left in the second overtime gave the Army West Point Men's Basketball team an 80-78 victory over Navy on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.

Army won its fourth straight game and improved to 17-11 on the year, including an 8-8 mark in Patriot League play, while Navy dropped to 18-11 and 9-7 in the conference.

Kevin Ferguson registered his sixth consecutive double-double with 22 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to lead the Black Knights. Tanner Plomb scored a game-high 24 and Wilson scored 11 in the win. Dylan Cox handed out a game-high eight assists.

Trailing by 13 with 8:36 to play, Army used an 11-2 run to cut the Navy lead to 49-45.

Plomb buried a deep three to pull the Black Knights within 10 points and sparked the run that made it a four-point game with five minutes to go. Jordan Fox scored five points and Plomb capped the run with his fourth three.

With under four minutes left, Army pulled back within three on a wing triple by Larry Toomey. The Mids scored on their next two possessions, a free throw by Will Kelly and a reverse layup by Shawn Anderson to push the lead back to six.

With 1:09 on the clock, Toomey hit a pair at the line to make it 54-51. Army then forced a turnover and had ball with a minute to go. Toomey's wing three was off and Army fouled Anderson with 40.6 seconds left to send him to the line for a 1-and-1. He made both free throws to increase Navy's lead to five.

Ferguson quickly scored inside (56-53) and Tilman Dunbar was trapped in the corner before Navy used its last timeout with 29.7 seconds on the clock. Dunbar was then sent to the line, where he made both shots in the 1-and-1 situation to push the lead back to five.

Plomb drained a quick three, before Dunbar was fouled again with 18 seconds left. He made the first and missed the second to keep Army within one possession. Wilson, who was 0-for-10 from the field at that point, drained a pullup three from the left wing to tie the game at 59. Dunbar's shot off the glass as time expired was off and the game went to overtime.

Navy's lead was 63-60 after two Anderson free throws with three minutes to play in the first five minutes. Plomb got to the line and made both to make it a one-point game again. After a miss by Dunbar on the other end, Ferguson completed a three-point play to put Army up by two. Kelly hit a pair at the stripe and the game was tied at 65 with less than two minutes left in overtime.

Hogan's jumper with a minute left and a Dunbar free throw had Navy in front 70-67 with 42 seconds left. Wilson then made a fadeaway jumper and Army got a quick steal with its press on the ensuing Navy inbounds play. Cox was fouled and he tied the game by making one of two with 26 seconds on the first-overtime clock.

A layup by Dunbar was off as time expired and the game needed five more minutes to decide a winner.

Ferguson started the second extra period with a layup off a feed by Cox to put Army ahead. Hogan scored a second-chance bucket on the other end and the game was tied at 72. A rebound by Ferguson led to an open Wilson three that made it 75-72, before Ferguson blocked Kelly on Navy's next trip.

Wilson missed and a jumper by Tim Abruzzo pulled Navy within a point (75-74) with under two minutes on the clock. Empty possessions by each team had Army in control of the basketball when, once again, an offensive rebound led to a Wilson three-pointer at 1:07.

Navy tied the game for the 10th and final time after Anderson's bucket and two Tom Lacey free throws with 15 seconds to play.

With it deadlocked at 78, Wilson's floater was off, but Ferguson corralled the miss and put home the game-winning basket to complete the comeback.

Anderson scored 20 points to lead Navy offensively, Hogan put in 16 points, Dunbar had 16 and handed out seven assists and Kelly recorded a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Navy finished the game with a 50-41 rebounding advantage.

Leading 16-13 in the first half, Navy doubled its lead with a corner three in transition by Kendall Knorr after layups by Kelly and Dunbar as part of a 7-0 run for the Mids. Plomb countered with a three of his own off a kickout pass by Ferguson and Navy led by three with 5:30 to play in the half.

Army closed the half on a 10-4 run as the two sides went into the locker room deadlocked at 23. The Mids limited Army to 27.3 percent from the floor (6-for-22), while shooting 43.5 percent on the other end (10-for-23), but the Black Knights went 9-for-11 at the line and Navy was 2-for-6.

Navy opened the second half with six straight points as a result of Army misses on the other end. Two layups in transition followed by a slam by Kelly prompted Army to call timeout at 17:43. The Mids led 29-23 at that point.

Plomb hit a three and Ferguson scored inside out of the timeout as Army closed the gap to one, but Navy responded with an 8-0 run to go ahead 37-28. A putback by Luke Morrison briefly stopped the bleeding, but Navy scored twice more and Hogan's jumper at 11:21 forced another Army timeout. The 12-2 stretch made it 41-30.

The Navy lead was 13 (47-34) when Dunbar followed his own miss with a layup with 8:36 to play. From there, Army began to mount its comeback.

Army's next game is Tuesday night when it travels to Boston University. The Black Knights and Terriers tip off from Case Gym at 7 p.m. and the game will be televised by the American Sports Network.

Game Notes: Ferguson registered his sixth consecutive double-double and the 14th of his career ... it was the 18th double-digit rebounding performance of his career ... Ferguson scored 20 points for the fourth straight game and reached the mark for the eighth time in his career ... Ferguson recorded the eighth 19-rebound performance in Army history ... the 19 rebounds were the most by an Army player in one game since Chris Glowe had 21 against Lafayette on Jan. 14, 1995 ... Army reached the 17-win mark for the first time since 1977-78 when it won 19 games ... Zach Spiker won his 100th career game ... Army snapped a five-game losing streak to Navy ... Army improved to 10-5 on the road and tied the program record for road wins set in 1976-77 ... the Black Knights are 7-7 in overtime under Zach Spiker and 3-1 this season ... Tanner Plomb now has 1,275 career points, good for 17th in Academy history ... Plomb reached the 20-point mark for the 26th time in his career ... Cayne Edwards grabbed a career-high three rebounds and recorded his first-career blocked shot.