For the second time in less than a week, Navy had a chance to knock off the Patriot League's first-place team, but this time the Midshipmen came up short and fell, 68-66, to Holy Cross last night in front of 1,131 at Alumni Hall.
Five days after knocking off then-conference leader Bucknell, Navy (6-15, 2-6) led by five at halftime, twice led by 10 during the second half and had a chance to send the game into overtime before seeing a two-game winning streak snapped by Holy Cross (16-5, 7-1).
During a thrilling final two minutes, Navy fought back from a nine-point deficit and had a chance to force overtime when George O'Garro stole the ball from Holy Cross point guard Pat Doherty with seven seconds remaining and Holy Cross leading by two.
Navy had a golden opportunity to tie the game, but sophomore David Rhoiney's pull-up jump shot from about 13 feet away rimmed out with four seconds remaining.
"I was completely comfortable with Doc taking the shot," senior guard Taj Mathews said of Rhoiney's final shot. "He works on that every day in practice and I had every reason to think that one was going in. It just missed."
Navy, which lost, 79-56, at Holy Cross on Jan. 21, was led by guard Corey Johnson, who scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Freshman guard Greg Sprink scored 14 and made 4 of 6 three-pointers and Mathews scored 11 points.
Holy Cross was led by swingman Keith Simmons, who scored 22 points and hit 3 of 5 three-pointers. It was Doherty, who finished with nine points, who hit two of the game's biggest shots.
Holy Cross led 61-58 when Doherty made consecutive three-pointers. He hit the second from about 23 feet out. The shot just beat the shot clock and gave Holy Cross a 67-58 lead with 2 minutes 8 seconds remaining.
"Those were big-time shots for us, especially coming from a freshman," Holy Cross Coach Ralph Willard said. "He had turned the ball over a couple of times, so it was good to see him shake it off and hit some big shots when we really needed them."
In winning their eighth straight game, the Crusaders had to overcome a rough shooting night from their best player and leading scorer, Kevin Hamilton. Hamilton, who entered the game averaging 15.8 points and 18.3 points in conference play, hit only 2 of 14 from the field, 1 of 11 from the three-point line and finished with seven points.
The Midshipmen led 36-31 at halftime because they held a 23-15 rebounding advantage, hit 4 of 7 three-pointers and held Holy Cross to 3-of-12 shooting from the three-point line.
Navy's scrappy first-half play was epitomized by Mathews, who beat Holy Cross guard Torey Thomas to a loose ball on the Navy end and threw it ahead as he was falling into the scorer's table. Mathews's pass hit Johnson in stride and Johnson flipped in a left-handed layup as he was being fouled.
Johnson converted the free throw to give Navy a 25-21 lead.
Mathews helped the Midshipmen increase their lead to 36-26 with 2:12 remaining in the first half, when he followed up a three-pointer from the corner by making 1 of 2 free throws.
• AMERICAN 86, ARMY 58: Andre Ingram scored 23 points and Jason Thomas had 18 to lead the Eagles at home.
American (13-7, 6-2 Patriot League) opened with a 12-4 run, led 47-31 at halftime and shot 52 percent for the game to win its third straight and seventh in eight games. American outrebounded Army 44-21.
Colin Harris scored 16 points to lead the Black Knights (3-17, 1-7).
