AU 55 - Navy 46
Andre Ingram scored 18 points and Brayden Billbe came off the bench to help the Eagles pull away in the second half of a 55-46 win over Navy on Wednesday at Bender Arena.
With a 1-4 conference record and coming off two losses in a row, Coach Jeff Jones shuffled his starting lineup prior to the game. Seniors Arvydas Eitutavicius and Sekou Lewis and sophomore Jordan Nichols replaced seniors Billbe and Lekavicius and junior Travis Lay.
"We had three guys who deserved to start," said Jones, referring to Ingram, Eitutavicius, and point guard Derrick Mercer. "We've been looking for consistency at the four spot and Jordan had a strong game against Holy Cross."
Both teams started off the game slowly, with Navy not hitting a field goal for the first 6:55. AU's offense wasn't much better, as they trailed 10-9 with less than eight minutes remaining in the first half. Mercer got AU's offense back on track, as his three-point play ignited a 10-0 run that helped the Eagles build a 22-16 halftime lead.
Navy erased the halftime deficit just five minutes into the second half, however Eitutavicius hit a three-pointer to put the Eagles up for good. Navy's Greg Sprink tried to lead the Midshipmen back; however Billbe scored eight points down the stretch to keep the lead intact.
"Without the plays [Billbe] made, we don't win the game," Jones said.
One of the keys to the win for the Eagles was keeping Sprink from beating them. Last season, Sprink scored 27 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead the Midshipmen to a come-from-behind victory in Annapolis. On Wednesday, Sprink scored 16 points, but made just one field goal in the final 10 minutes.
"As a team, we didn't let him go off on us like last year," Ingram said.
After scoring 24 points against Holy Cross and being one of the Eagles top offensive players all season, Eitutavicius scored just seven points on 2-12 shooting in his first start of the season.
"This was his least productive game in a long while," Jones said. "I feel a little bit guilty about taking him out of his comfort zone."
The Eagles won despite shooting just over 30 percent from the field. They also missed 12 free throws and shot less than 23 percent from three-point range.
"That was a perfect example of winning ugly, but I am thrilled with the result," Jones said. "To use a different clich?, our backs were to the wall. We needed to win this game."
AU 73 - Lafayette 59
Travis Lay came off the bench to record a double-double and Andre Ingram continued his strong play at Kirby Sports Center, leading the Eagles with 23 points in a 73-59 victory over Lafayette on Saturday.
The Eagles led by just one with over 14 minutes remaining in the second half when Arvydas Eitutavicius hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put AU up 43-36. Lafayette never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
Ingram's game-high 23 points actually lowered his career average at Lafayette. He previously had games 26, 30 and 37 points at Kirby, and had led the Eagles to four straight wins over the Leopards.
The Eagles dominated on the boards, out-rebounding the Leopards, 37-27. The Eagles also had a 10-2 advantage on the offense glass, which translated to a 9-2 edge in second chance points.
Lay scored a career-high 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and Eitutavicius scored 13 points, all in the second half. Andrew Brown and Matt Betley each scored 12 points to lead Lafayette.
The AU victory, combined with Army's loss against Bucknell, moved the Eagles into a tie for fourth place with the Black Knights with a record of 3-4. The top four seeds will host at least one home game in the PL tournament.
AU hits the road this week for a game at PL-leading Holy Cross on Wednesday before returning home to host Lehigh on Saturday.
