The Navy Midshipmen (12-18) defeated the American University men’s basketball team (18-12) on Feb. 26 in Bender Arena 68-60 in American’s final regular season home game. The game, crucial for Patriot League playoff seeding, was tightly contested throughout, but the Eagles’ poor shooting lost them the match in the end.
American entered the game at the top of the Patriot League, with a chance to clinch their first Patriot League regular season title since 2009 if they a won against Navy and Bucknell loss at the same time in Baltimore against Loyola Maryland. Instead, American is now tied for first in the Patriot League with Bucknell.
American came out to a quick lead with 3-pointers from sophomore forward Greg Jones and graduate student guard Colin Smalls, giving them an 11-5 advantage four minutes into the game.
However, Navy quickly came back, and a combination of fouls and missed 3-pointers by the Eagles put the Midshipmen in the lead midway through the half, which they were able to hold onto until the game’s final minutes. The Eagles stayed within reach of the Midshipmen for the remainder of a relatively quiet half, which was brought to a close by a pretty layup by senior guard Elijah Stephens with the clock running out, bringing the game to 30-27.
The Eagles shot 33 percent from the field in the first half and a dire 4 of 15 from 3-point land. Navy held a better shooting percentage, but American’s higher volume kept them in the game.
American came out of the locker room firing in the second half. Unfortunately, so did Navy sophomore guard Jordan Pennick. Pennick opened the half with a quick 3-pointer, which was countered with two jumpers from American graduate student forward Matt Rogers. With the score 34-31, Pennick hit another 3-pointer, extending Navy’s lead to six. AU took advantage of a Navy turnover to grab four more points on a Rogers layup and a couple of Jones free throws. The Eagles were again within striking distance of the lead when Pennick hit his third 3-pointer of the half just seconds later.
With the intensity in Bender mounting, Rogers slammed a dunk down on the head of a Navy defender, eliciting a massive crowd pop and “MVP” chants for the man who has been AU’s best player all season. Unfortunately, Rogers followed up his explosive jam mere seconds later by picking up his fourth foul of the game with 15 minutes still left to play.
With Rogers on the bench in foul trouble, Navy’s 6-foot-10 junior center Aidan Kehoe began to assert himself, collecting blocks, rebounds and points, and dominating AU’s backup big men.
Even with Rogers out, American kept things close for the next few minutes. An impressive banked-in 3-pointer through pressure by Smalls tied the game at 45 with 10:55 left.
The showdown went back and forth for a few minutes, with Navy mainly in the lead and AU missing 3-pointers but making up for it by playing strong defense. With under five minutes remaining, sophomore forward Matt Mayock turned a steal into a breakaway layup, again tying the match, this time at 56 points apiece.
The next few minutes absolutely devastated the Eagles. In the span of just five minutes of real time over in Baltimore, Bucknell came back and defeated Loyola Maryland in their matchup, making it crucial for American to beat Navy to hold onto the number one spot in the Patriot League.
Pennick then broke a bout of scoreless play in Bender by hitting yet another 3-pointer, giving Navy a 59-56 lead. A few minutes later, in a highly controversial call made by a referee with seemingly no angle on the play, Rogers fouled out of the game with 1:45 left.
The last few minutes were characterized by more missed 3-pointers for the Eagles, who quickly entered desperation mode after turning the ball over with their best player watching from the bench.
Navy left the door open for a miraculous comeback, missing three of their final six free throws, but the Eagles could not get anything to fall, eventually losing 68-60.
American shot an abysmal 7 of 31 from beyond the arc and also a disappointing 11 of 17 from the free-throw line. Rogers led the team in scoring with 17 points, with the only other Eagle in double-digit scoring being Jones, who had 10.
Pennick led the scoring for Navy with 22 points, 18 of which came from his 6-for-8 3-point shooting performance. Kehoe finished the game with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks, and junior forward Donovan Draper had 16 rebounds.
Overall, Navy outrebounded American 40-28 and took advantage of American’s 25 fouls, getting 20 free points from the charity stripe.
After the game, American head coach Duane Simpkins blamed the loss on their poor shooting and emphasized that this late in the season, everything is mental.
“We gotta make sure that everyone’s in the right headspace before our next game,” Simpkins said.
Following their loss and Bucknell’s win, American is now tied for first place in the Patriot League, with one game left for both teams. This last game is a must-win for American, because if they beat Colgate in New York, they will win the Patriot League thanks to tiebreakers, regardless of Bucknell’s result. However, if they lose, Bucknell will win the Patriot League.
American will be hosting a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal in Bender Arena on March 6 against an opponent that is to be determined.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Nicole Kariuki and Hannah Langenfeld.
