Defeat by Navy reveals parity of conference
Many people were victimized by Wednesday’s snowstorm, which paralyzed traffic and knocked out power throughout the Washington area. One such outage struck the American University basketball team.
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The Eagles — who needed four hours to make a bus trip to Annapolis — were 30 minutes late for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Navy. When the game finally started at 8:35 p.m., things got worse.
American, the preseason favorite in the Patriot League, lost decisively to cellar-dwelling Navy 72-53. In the second half, the Eagles missed all 13 of their 3-point attempts as they tried to shoot their way back into the game.
The rugged commute surely was a factor for AU (14-7, 4-2). But so was the stellar play of Navy (7-15, 2-4) and forward J.J. Avila. The 6-foot-7 freshman hit six of eight shots from 3-point range on his way to 24 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, outplaying American standout Vlad Moldoveanu (14 points, 12 rebounds).
| UP NEXT |
| Navy at Colgate |
| When » Saturday, 2 p.m. |
| Where » Cotterell Arena, Hamilton, N.Y. |
| Radio » 1430 AM |
| Coming off wins over Army and AU, Navy (7-15, 2-4) has renewed hope after a tough-luck start in the Patriot League. Struggling Colgate (3-16, 1-4) played at Holy Cross on Thursday and is led by 6-5 junior Yaw Gyawu (12.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg). The teams split last season, with each winning at home. |
| Lafayette at AU |
| When » Saturday, 4 p.m. |
| Where » Bender Arena |
| TV » CBS College Sports |
| Radio » 1500, 820 AM |
| With its loss at Navy on Wednesday, AU (14-7, 4-2) fell two games behind Bucknell in the Patriot League. Lafayette (8-13, 3-3) is led by 6-9 senior Jared Mintz (16.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and 6-3 junior Jim Mower (12 ppg). The Leopards have lost the last 12 meetings between the teams. |
The game was evidence of the balance in the Patriot League, where there’s little margin between first place and last.
“That’s the crazy thing about our league. The games are gonna be close. It usually comes down to the last two or three minutes of every game,” Navy coach Billy Lange said. “Anyone can beat anyone on a given night.”
With its emphasis on academics, the Patriot League is often compared to the Ivy League. But one thing the Patriot has that the Ivy does not is balance.
“Beginning of the season, we had five teams gain first-place votes between the coaches, SIDs and the media,” Lange said. “That’s a lot. Not many leagues get five teams picked to win the league.”
Especially when the league consists of just eight teams.
Parity is a relatively new concept in the Patriot League. Bucknell went 14-0 in the league in 2006. AU (2009), Holy Cross (2007, 2005) and Bucknell (2007) went 13-1 in the Patriot in the regular season.
But last year, preseason favorite Holy Cross went 5-9 in the conference, while Lehigh won the regular season with a 10-4 record despite losing twice to Navy.
“It’s a real scrappy league,” said Navy guard Jordan Sugars, who scored 15 points against AU. “Nobody’s afraid. Nobody’s scared.”
