Army men’s basketball team simply had no answers for Navy center Aidan Kehoe’s play on Sunday afternoon at Christle Arena. The result was an impressive 66-53 victory for the Midshipman, which put a quick end to Army’s five-game winning streak.
With Navy outrebounding Army 57-35, with 19 offensive boards leading to 11 second-chance points, it is also sure to create some conversation among other Patriot League teams on what they need to do to develop their own strong inside game against this undersized Black Knights squad the rest of the season.
In particular, Kehoe, a 6-10 junior who seemed to tower over the Army players, was a busy man. He dominated both the offensive and defensive boards for Navy, collecting 20 rebounds, which Naval Academy officials say is an Army-Navy game record. He also scored 13 points. Most importantly, playing about 29 minutes of the game, Kehoe was greatly responsible for Army’s inability to develop a consistent inside game, putting more pressure on its outside shooting to compensate. His presence underneath the offensive boards forced Army to focus on him, opening some three-point opportunities for his teammates, particularly Jordan Pennick, who hit five threes.
“He is a big guy to begin with,” Army sophomore forward Josh Scovens, who scored a team-high 12 points, said of Kehoe. “When you come down and sandwich one guy, it might leave another guy open. It is a team effort, we have to help our big guys out and we did not do a good enough job today.”
The Black Knights, who were averaging 76 points a game this year, were the team that could not shoot straight against Navy, hitting just 31 percent of their shots from the field. Jalen Rucker, who missed last Wednesday’s game against Holy Cross with a swollen ankle, was just 1-of-12 from the field against the Middies, and finished with 5 points, about 14 under his season average. Blake Barker was 1-of-7 from the floor and finished with three points. Even, sophomore playmaker Ryan Curry seemed off his game, going four-for 12 from the field and finishing with 11 points.
Army made just eight of 18 free throws, while Navy was 12-for 15 from the free throw line.
“Credit to Navy, these games are a blood bath, they are very physical and they are well defended,” said Army coach Kevin Kuwik, who is now 1-2 against Navy halfway through his second season at the helm of the Black Knights. “Part of it was we did not make some shots and free throws that we need to make to put our best foot forward.
“It is one game and I am disappointed. But we know that in every game coming in that we are kind of undersized. We need to rebound with five dudes. We put a lot of time into it at practice on everyone’s assignments. I will watch the film but I am pretty sure we did not get it done on what we emphasized.”
Army is now 11-9 overall and 5-3 in the Patriot League, with Colgate, now tied for first place with American, coming to Christl on Wednesday. On Saturday, Army visits American in Washington, D.C. Colgate defeated Army 71-59 in Hamilton, N.Y. on Jan. 2. Navy is now 7-14 overall and 4-4 in the Patriot League.
From the onset, Navy seemed comfortable focusing on controlling the inside game and giving Army the outside game. The strategy worked through most of the first half, with Army shooting an abysmal 27 percent from the field as the Midshipmen took a seven-point lead with less than four minutes left in the half.
In fact, only a bucket by senior forward AJ Allenspach and two baskets by Scovens in the last four minutes of the half enabled Army to cut the lead to 26-24 at halftime.
The second half was close, thanks mostly to Navy’s inability to hit shots and a slightly better shooting performance by the Black Knights. The game was tied with 7:32 left before Navy connected on three straight tree-pointers, two by Pennick, to take a 45-36 lead. Later, the Middies outscored to stretch their lead to 63-46 with about a minute left.
