Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
17-15,10-8Patriot
Elon
17-16,8-10CAA
Men’s Basketball Earns First Postseason Win in 55 Years in Comeback Win over Elon
March 23, 2025 | Men's Basketball
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Army West Point men's basketball (17-15, 10-8) earned the program's first win in postseason play since 1970 on Sunday, coming back from a 21-point second-half deficit to defeat the Elon University Phoenix (17-16, 8-10), 83-78.
The win in the opening round of the Purple College Basketball Invitational (CBI) breaks a 55-year postseason tournament win drought for the Black Knights. The last postseason win for the program in the postseason coming in the 1970 National Invitational Tournament (NIT) with three wins from Bob Knight and his squad gave the program a third-place tournament finish.
Army overcame a nine-point first-half deficit and a 51-30 second-half deficit thanks to shooting 48.4 percent from the floor and 56.3 percent from the three-point line. The Black Knights finished the game shooting 37.1 percent from the field and 35 percent from behind the arch.
The Black Knights won the turnover battle, forcing 14 Phoenix turnovers while only having five of their own. With the turnover margin, Army held a 13-2 points off turnovers advantage.
Jalen Rucker led the Black Knights off the bench with a game-high 27 points and six assists alongside two rebounds and two steals.
Jorn Everson also had a career day off the bench, scoring a career-high 22 points while shooting 8-12 from the floor and 4-7 from the three-point line.
Ryan Curry was the final Black Knight in double digits, finishing the game with 14 points with five rebounds, three assists and one block.
Other contributors include Tate Laczkowski with seven points and a team-high nine rebounds. Black Barker added five points, five rebounds and three assists. AJ Allenspach finished the game with four points and seven rebounds. Jacen Holloway added three points and Kendall Hailey rounded out the scorers with a made free throw to help clinch the win.
How It Happened
The Black Knights got the first three points with a three-pointer from Jacen Holloway, which stretched to a brief 5-3 lead with a reverse layup from AJ Allenspach.
Then, Elon went on a 7-0 run over two minutes to take a five-point lead with 15:25 left in the first half.
Then over the next few minutes, Elon continued to extend its lead, outscoring Army 10-4 to give them a 20-9 lead with 10:40 left in the first half.
In the following four minutes, the Black Knights held a slight 8-7 scoring advantage, making it a 27-17 game with 7:54 left in the first half.
During that time, Jalen Rucker and Black Barker hit a three-pointer, with AJ Allenspach adding another reverse layup.
The two teams continued to exchange buckets through the end of the half.
Jorn Everson led Army in the final seven minutes with five points, with Jalen Rucker and Ryan Curry adding three points plus Tate Laczkowski adding two to make it only a 30-39 deficit heading into the locker room. The Black Knights finished the first half shooting only 28.2 percent from the floor and 20.8 from the three-point line.
To start the second half, the Black Knights struggled, with Elon starting the first three minutes on a 12-0 run to help take this biggest lead at 51-30 with 17:01 left to play.
Jorn Everson then earned his first three points of his 17-point second half to cut the lead to 18, then Elon responded with another two points to make it a 20-point game.
The tides then turned, this time in the Black Knights's favor, going on a 19-2 run over four minutes to make it only a 52-55 game with 12:53 left to play.
The run was started by two points from Jorn Everson, with Ryan Curry hitting back-to-back threes. Elon scored their only bucket in the run, then Tate Laczkowski hit his only three-pointer of the game. Then Jalen Rucker went on a personal 8-0 run to cut the Phoenix lead to three.
After another Elon two-point bucket, Army had a quick 7-0 burst to take their first lead since early in the first half.
Jorn Everson hit a layup, Jalen Rucker hit a jumper, then Jorn Everson hit another three-pointer to give Army the lead at 59-57.
Elon went on a 5-0 burst to retake the lead briefly, but then Army went on a 9-0 run again fueled by Rucker and Everson to retake the lead and make it a six-point game in their favor.
Jorn Everson started the run with a three-pointer, Jalen Rucker earned four fast break points off his own steals and Everson added another two points.
The Phoenix went on a 7-2 run to cut Army's lead back to 70-69 with five minutes left, but Army would take back control.
Army went on a 7-0 run to extend its lead back to eight points with Jalen Rucker and Blake Barker scoring two points each and Ryan Curry hitting a three-pointer to make it a 77-69 game with 2:20 left to play.
The Black Knights would go on to score six points in the final two minutes with Jalen Rucker scoring three points, Ryan Curry hitting a clutch jumper and Kendall Hailey adding his free throw.
Elon would outscore Army down the stretch with nine points, but it was not enough, as Army ultimately earned the win and made history.
Up Next
The Black Knights face a 24-hour turnaround as they prepare for a quarterfinal round matchup with the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.
The Eagles finished the regular season 18-14 overall and a 13-5 conference record in Atlantic Sun conference play. That finished allowed them to finish third in their conference standings.
Ultimately, the Eagles fell in the quarterfinal round of the ASUN tournament to another CBI opponent in Queens, 65-71.
The game is slated for a 2 p.m. tip-off in the Ocean Center, with the game streaming live on FloCollege and the Varsity Sports Network.
