The men’s basketball team split a pair of games this past week against two top-three ranked Patriot League teams, stunning American University 67-65 at the buzzer on Saturday before slipping 65-60 to the Naval Academy.
Despite the Eagles (6-5 Patriot League, 13-11 overall) taking a commanding 13-6 lead in the opening five minutes, a three-pointer from junior guard Andrew Phillips capped off an 8-2 run that put the Leopards (4-7 Patriot League, 7-17 overall) down one.
“It’s really hard to win, especially at American, but we’ve been playing better and better,” Phillips said. “I think just going in with confidence and shooting the ball and playing defense and trusting my teammates is kind of how I went into that game.”
The hosts continued the attack, reclaiming a 29-22 lead with two minutes left in the half. A couple of shots from both teams tallied the score going into halftime.
Fresh out of the locker room, Phillips recorded 10 points in the first four minutes of the second half to cut the lead to 39-38. With 11 minutes to play, the visitors found a groove, taking a 46-41 lead.
Over the course of the next seven and a half minutes, both teams traded shots to keep the Leopards up by five. With one minute remaining, however, the Eagles tied the score. After back-and-forth layups that kept the score tied at 65 apiece, head coach Mike McGarvey called a timeout. Sophomore guard Caleb Williams got the nod, fighting through traffic to sink the game-ending layup as the buzzer sounded.
“At the end of the day, we have to play hard and we have to get stops,” freshman forward Christian Humphrey-Rembert said. “Our atmosphere, especially in practice, has been all about getting stops, stops, stops.”
Phillips was the top scorer for the Maroon and White, dropping 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Williams and junior guard Mark Butler also recorded 16 and 11, respectively.
The Leopards returned to the Kirby Sports Center to host Patriot League-leading Navy (10-1 Patriot League, 18-6 overall) on Wednesday, where the Midshipmen jumped out to a 9-2 lead after the first four minutes. Freshman guard KaiMani Murdock drained a three-pointer from the corner that led to a five-minute run, which tied the game at 11 apiece.
The Maroon and White claimed their first lead of the game with eight minutes left in the house, courtesy of a pair of Phillips free throws. After trading shots for the next three minutes, the visitors scored five on back-to-back possessions that would give them the lead for the rest of the half. The Leopards scored four in the last minute and a half, heading into the locker room down 26-24.
“It’s hard to play against the Naval Academy, because they tend to play the hardest,” Phillips said.
Down five shortly after halftime, the Leopards roared back with a Butler three and a Williams layup to tie the game at 34-34. The Midshipmen broke free, however, with an 11-0 run that brought the game to the eight-minute mark.
Although the Leopards showed life with a Williams jumper and three-pointer to claw back within two, it was the visitors who controlled the pace of the remaining six minutes, as they outscored the hosts 20-7 over this stretch to secure the game.
Humphrey-Rembert paced the team with six rebounds and two made three-pointers on the night,
“Always to play the best I can and play off my teammates,” Humphrey-Rembert said about his mindset.
The Leopards will travel to West Point, New York, on Saturday to take on Army (4-7 Patriot League, 10-14 overall).