Lafayette Leads Wire-To-Wire Against Army

Thursday, January 5

Easton, Pa.

7 p.m.

Army West Point

6-9; 0-3

Lafayette

6-8; 2-1

Army West Point

Lafayette

Lafayette Leads Wire-To-Wire Against Army

January 05, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

EASTON, Pa. – The Army West Point men's basketball team dropped a 79-74 decision at Lafayette here Thursday night.

The Black Knights dip to 0-3 in the early Patriot League season, while the Leopards make it two-straight conference wins and improve to 2-1.

Lafayette started hot and never really wavered throughout the game. Army tried to battle back after allowing the Leopards to take a 12-point first half advantage and pulled within 53-52 after rookie Tommy Funk converted on a layup with 8:13 remaining. Unfortunately, the home team answered with a 14-3 run to extend the edge back to 67-55 a little less than five minutes later.

Again the Cadets tried to spark a comeback with an 11-2 run, highlighted by two 3-pointers from Luke Morrison, to make it a one possession game at 69-66 with 1:29 left on the clock. But for the second time, the Leopards had an answer. First-year Hunter Janacek drained a key trey on the wing during Lafayette's next possession to ultimately seal the home team's sixth victory of the year.

Funk led the Black Knights after matching his career-high with 13 points. Three other Cadets reached twin figures in Matt Wilson (12 points), John Emezie (11 points) and Jordan Fox (10 points). Wilson has now recorded double figures for the fifth-straight game, marking the second time in his young career the rookie has achieved this feat.

Fox added 10 assists to match his career-best effort, while Emezie chipped in a career-high eight rebounds to lead Army on the boards.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

Army finished the night shooting 41.9 percent (26-of-62) from the floor and 26.7 percent (8-of-30) from long range. The Cadets also converted on 14 of their 20 attempts at the free throw line.
Lafayette went 42.4 percent (28-of-66), 34.6 percent (9-of-26), and 82.4 percent (14-of-17), respectively.
Army started the game 0-10 from behind-the-arc until Jacob Kessler drained a trey at the 6:50 mark of the first half.
Morrison and Kessler closed out their night with nine points each after hitting three shots from downtown.
Fox matched his career-best in steals with three as well.
Four Leopards notched double digits with Matt Klinewski leading the way with 21 points. Nick Lindner added 20 points, followed by Paulius Zalys and Janacek with 10 apiece.
The Black Knights slightly outrebounded the Leopards at 40-39 but the hosts held the slim advantage on offensive boards at 8-7.
Both teams earned 12 turnovers and converted on 30 points from inside the paint.
Army tallied nine of its 12 turnovers in the opening period.
The two teams also each recorded eight points off turnovers, with the Leopards holding the 8-4 and 7-2 edge on fast break points and second chance points, respectively.
Lafayette led for 39:12. The game was tied for 48 seconds.
The Leopards held the game's largest advantage at 12 points on two different occasions. The most recent was with 3:52 remaining in the game when Zalys' finished off a layup to make it a 67-55 ballgame.

TURNING POINT

After Army had battled back to make it a one possession game at 69-66 with 1:23 remaining, Janacek drained a 3-pointer to ultimately put the game out of reach for the Black Knights.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Lafayette started the game on 10-0 run to take early lead. Army would be forced to call a timeout a few minutes later after the Leopards continued to increase their edge to 15-4.
The home team extended their lead to the largest of the game when Kyle Stout converted on a jumper to make it 20-8 just seven minutes into the contest.
The Black Knights responded though with seven straight to cut into the deficit at 20-15 four minutes later.
With 4:45 remaining in the opening period, Lafayette saw Myles Cherry finish off a layup to make it a 31-24 ballgame. Fortunately for the visitors, the Black Knights answered with an 8-2 run to pull within 33-32 with 35 seconds remaining.
One last bucket from the Leopards following a late steal though sent the home team into halftime up 35-32.
Early in the second half, Army again made it a one-point game with 17:20 left when Kennedy Edwards converted on a layup, pulling the Cadets to within 39-38.
After the Leopards quickly responded with a layup from Klinewski, neither team scored over the next four minutes.
The Cadets then got the lead down to one point on two more occasions with their most recent coming at the 8:13 mark. Unfortunately, a 14-3 run for Lafayette over more than a four-minute span created a 67-55 gap between the teams.
Despite pulling within 69-66 with 1:29 remaining, the Leopards were able to convert on a key 3-pointer to ultimately close out the victory.

UP NEXT

Army is back in the comfy confines of Christl Arena on Sunday for a 1 p.m. tilt with Loyola. The Greyhounds defeated Lehigh in dramatic fashion Thursday night, stealing an 84-83 road victory following Andre Walker's 3-pointer with one second remaining. Loyola sits with a 2-1 league mark heading into Sunday's contest.