Eagles Shut Down Sprink, Midshipmen

The primary reasons for American University's 65-48 victory over Navy last night at Bender Arena weren't necessarily the Eagles' 56 percent shooting in the second half, their healthy rebounding advantage or their 14 steals.

Perhaps the truest explanation for their third win in four games heading into tomorrow's regular season finale was the defensive work performed on Greg Sprink, the Midshipmen's leading scorer who burned the Eagles for seven three-pointers and 27 points last month in Annapolis.

On this night, American didn't allow Sprink's first -- and only -- field goal until 4 minutes 42 seconds remained and the outcome had long been decided.

"That's the guy who killed us in the first game and we definitely guarded him really well in this game," said junior guard Arvydas Eitutavicius, who led the Eagles with 15 points. "We just start going when we start playing defense."

Sprink, averaging 15 points per game, converted 7 of 8 free throws but managed only six field goal attempts, three from three-point range.

The Eagles (10-16, 6-7 Patriot League) can wrap up the fourth seed in the conference tournament with a victory at fifth-place Lafayette (11-15, 5-8) tomorrow. Regardless of the outcome, those teams will meet in the Patriot quarterfinals next weekend.

The Midshipmen (10-16, 3-10) are the highest-scoring team in the league, but last night fell 21 points short of their average after shooting 36 percent and committing 20 turnovers. Sprink and Carlton Baldwin led Navy with 10 points apiece.

AU held a 28-19 lead at the break and, after allowing two free throws at the start of the second half, pulled away with a 30-12 run, capped by junior guard Andre Ingram's 15-footer and three-pointer.

"We came out with a lot of energy, a lot of intensity and we talked about needing to make the extra-effort plays -- and I thought we did that," Eagles Coach Jeff Jones said. "The game up in Annapolis [a 77-68 Navy win], we played pretty hard but they played harder and tougher down the stretch and we didn't want to allow that to happen again."

Senior forward Matt Fannin, Navy's third-leading scorer who missed four games in January with a knee ligament injury, hurt his knee again with about 13 1/2 minutes remaining and did not return.

"It has happened every game and, in a game like that, where it looks like it's going to pull away from us, there's no sense" trying to get him back onto the court, Midshipmen Coach Billy Lange said.

Navy will close the regular season tomorrow against Colgate (9-18, 3-10) at Alumni Hall.

· CATHOLIC 69, MARY WASHINGTON 59 : After winning in the Capital Athletic Conference semifinals at home, the Cardinals (20-6) will host the conference title game against Salisbury tomorrow at 4 p.m. Catholic reached the 20-win mark for the ninth straight season.

Junior Scott Fumai (Good Counsel) had 20 first-half points for Catholic; he made six three-pointers in the half.