Men's Basketball Outlasts Lafayette in Overtime

Wednesday, February 3

Easton, PA

7 PM

Army West Point

13-10; 4-7

Lafayette

5-16; 2-8

OT 1

Army West Point

Lafayette

Men's Basketball Outlasts Lafayette in Overtime

February 03, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - The Army West Point men's basketball team erased an 18-point deficit to come away with an 84-81 overtime victory over Lafayette on Wednesday evening at Kirby Sports Center.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak and improved the Black Knights to 4-7 in Patriot League play and 13-10 on the season. Lafayette fell to 5-16 overall and 3-8 in the conference following its fifth consecutive loss.

Tanner Plomb (22 points, 10 rebounds) and Kevin Ferguson (17 points, 10 rebounds) each registered double-doubles for Army in the comeback win. Kyle Wilson added 20 points and Dylan Cox scored 13, while Larry Toomey pulled in 10 rebounds.

The comeback was fueled by a 47.9 percent shooting performance after halftime (23-for-48). The Black Knights finished the contest plus-three on the glass (44-41) after being outrebounded in the first half by seven boards.

"I thought our team played with the energy and effort in the second half that our program is known for." head coach Zach Spiker said. "I didn't think we defended like we are capable of defending in the first half and we played Army basketball in the second half."

Lafayette had five players in double figures, led by 15 points apiece by Matt Klinewski and Nick Lindner. Paulius Zalys, Zach Rufer and Monty Boykins each added 12 in the loss.

After three-pointer by Wilson had Army in front 10-7, Lafayette scored 20 of the next 24 points to go in front 27-14 at the seven-minute mark of the first period. The run included consecutive jumpers by Zalys, the second a straightaway three, and five points by Klinewski.

Lafayette stretched its lead to 34-18 when Rufer connected on a three-pointer that forced Army to use a timeout with 4:16 left in the first half.

The Leopards took a 41-26 lead into the halftime break after limiting Army to 33.3 percent shooting (9-for-27) and outrebounded the Black Knights 20-13. Lafayette connected on 53.6 percent of its shots in the half, including a 5-of-10 effort from beyond the arc.

Army started the second half strong on both ends of the floor and scored eight of the first 10 points to trim the deficit to single digits (43-34). A transition layup for the Leopards ended the 8-2 spurt and the home team was up 45-34 at the under 16 timeout.

A Cox layup and steal and score by Ferguson on Army's full-court press started a 7-2 stretch for the Black Knights that ended with a three from the top of the key by Luke Morrison. The miniature run had Army down eight at 49-41.

Plomb then connected on consecutive treys surrounding a Zalys bucket and Army was back within five points with 12:40 to play. Lindner drained an open three on the other end to halt Army's 21-11 start to the second half and his side was ahead 55-47 with 12 minutes to go in the second half.

A putback by Cox off a Wilson miss came before a Lafayette turnover that led to a Wilson triple. That forced Lafayette to call timeout with 10:27 showing as Army pulled within three at 55-52.

Moments later a corner three by Toomey leveled the score at 59 apiece as Lafayette's 18-point vanished.

"The whole half we were just taking it four minutes at a time," Plomb added. "We kept chipping away at that lead and when the final media timeout came, we knew we were going to take care of business."

The Leopards' lead was 63-61 with four minutes to play before a turnover and layup by Cox tied the game again at 63-63. A layup by Ferguson followed 1-of-2 at the line for Auston Evans as Army edged in front by a point.

Ferguson was fouled after Rufer missed a three for Lafayette and hit the front end of a one-and-one to push Army ahead 66-64. Klinewski countered with a layup to tie the game before an Army turnover gave the ball back to Lafayette with 1:28 to go in regulation.

Lindner drew a foul and hit a pair before Wilson tied the game again with a layup high off the glass. A miss by Lafayette gave Army the ball with 40 seconds remaining and late in the shot clock Plomb muscled his way inside with a right-handed drive and finish. Lindner's three on the other end missed, but Klinewski was there to clean up the miss and tie the game at 70 with 3.4 seconds left. Wilson's 25-footer at the buzzer was off and the game went into overtime.

Both teams were in the double bonus to start the extra session and Army went in front by three with 3-of-4 at the stripe to start the overtime. Klinewski's jumper made it 73-72 before Wilson's pullup pushed the lead back to three with three minutes left.

Lindner hit a jumper following a Lafayette timeout, then gave the Leopards the lead with a three following an Army miss. Plomb came back down the other end and scored in the paint to tie the game at 77-77.

After a Lindner layup rimmed out, Plomb scored in transition, but Klinewski answered with a reverse layup to tie the score for the 11th time in the contest. Army used a timeout with 57.6 seconds that preceded to the eventual game-deciding play. Cox drove to the rim and scored a left-handed layup through contact and added the bonus free throw to put Army ahead 82-79.

Lindner made two free throws with 42 seconds remaining (82-81) and Army had the ball back. Late in the shot clock Ferguson missed a jumper, but the ball bounced out of bounds off Lafayette with 14 seconds to go. Wilson tacked on two free throws and Lafayette missed three threes on its final possession, including a block by Plomb on Scott's final attempt to seal the win.

Army is back at home on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Loyola Maryland. Opening tip from Christl Arena is slated for 1 p.m. and the contest can be seen online on the Patriot League Network.

Game Notes: Dylan Cox became the Academy's all-time assist leader, passing Randy Cozzens '85 ... Cox has 433 assists in his career ... Tanner Plomb has scored in double figures in 28 straight games dating back to last season ... Plomb scored at least 20 points for the 23rd time in his career and 12th time this season ... Plomb passed Lee Sager '61 and is now 20th in Academy history in scoring (1,187 points) ... Plomb grabbed at least 10 rebounds for the seventh time in his career and secured his sixth-career double-double ... Kyle Wilson reached the 20-point mark for the 39th time in his career and seventh time this season ... Kevin Ferguson registered his ninth-career double-double and 13th career double-digit rebounding performance ... Ferguson now has 603 career rebounds, good for eighth in Academy history ... Larry Toomey pulled in at least 10 boards for the second time in his career ... Army moved to 5-0 when at least four players score in double figures ... the comeback marked the first win for Army under Zach Spiker when trailing by double digits at halftime ... Army won its fifth straight overtime game and improved to 6-6 in overtime games during Spiker's tenure ... the 18-point deficit was the largest Army has overcome since Jan. 17, 1996 when the Black Knights defeated Lafayette 83-79 after trailing by 18 points ... the win snapped a three-game losing streak to Lafayette ... Army moved to 28-42 all-time against the Leopards.