The AU men’s basketball team extended their winning streak to 10 consecutive games by defeating the Navy Midshipmen 74-52 on Jan. 29 at Bender Arena.
This victory came from solid teamwork and a career- high 28-point performance by sophomore guard Jesse Reed.
“It’s pretty incredible,” senior center Tony Wroblicky said of Reed. “He’s getting three’s, backdoor cuts, everything.”
The key to the Eagles’ (13-7, 9-0 PL) success this season is playing as a unit, which is the basis of their high-passing, misdirection style of offense. Reed happened to be the product of that scoring tonight, capitalizing on six of his eight three-pointers.
“He’s playing well offensively, but he’s also been the recipient of some great plays,” head coach Mike Brennan said of Reed.
Junior guard John Schoof was a key piece to Reed’s incredible stat-line, feeding the Eagles’ six assists, six points and two offensive rebounds. Junior forward Kyle Kager was also a standout for the Eagles, tallying six rebounds and 11 points.
The Eagles have scored 74 points or more in each of their last three matchups. Wroblicky was also a force tonight for the Eagles, grabbing a season high 16 rebounds to go along with eight points and four blocks. Along with Wroblicky, Reed and Schoof.
Junior guard Darius Gardner also played extremely well, posting a line of 11 points, three assists, two steals and two rebounds.
The Eagles jumped out to a huge lead in the first half against Navy with 37-17.
The Midshipmen (7-13, 2-7 PL) had no answer for the Eagles’ stubborn defense. AU locked down on all of Navy’s starters, keeping them all under the 10-point mark. Navy managed to shoot only 15-42 from the field and committed 11 turnovers.
AU shot 21-39 from the field and entered the game No. 4 in the nation in field goal percentage shooting with approximately 51 percent from the floor.
The Midshipmen got as close as 14 trailing 52-38, but the Eagles maintained a substantial lead through the remainder of the contest to secure their ninth conference win.
The Eagles have only allowed one Patriot League team, Lehigh, to score more than 63 points on them this season.
AU is now entering the home stretch of the season with just nine games left before the Patriot League Tournament and an NCAA tournament berth on the line.
The Eagles were projected to make the tournament as a No. 15 seed in ESPN, according to Bracketology Analyst Joe Lunardi.
The Eagles next game will be Feb. 1, against Holy Cross at 1 p.m. at Bender Arena.
