Kina Bounces Back, Does It All for Midshipmen

Navy 79, William & Mary 63

Three days after a hard fall left him woozy at Villanova, Navy's Kaleo Kina offered a dizzying display of all-around basketball last night in Annapolis.

The sophomore guard scored his team's first nine points and finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals as the Midshipmen routed William & Mary, 79-63, before an announced crowd of 1,285 at Alumni Hall. Navy (5-2) is off to its best start since the 1998-99 squad won six of its first seven.

Coach Billy Lange called Kina's second-half incident while driving to the basket Saturday "probably the scariest moment in about 10 years that I've been doing this, just seeing one of your players laying motionless and his eyes were in the back of his head."

Kina did not play the final 5 1/2 minutes of that game, but nonetheless contributed 13 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals.

"I'm good," Kina said after resting Sunday and practicing lightly Monday. "I was ready to go."

Junior guard Greg Sprink added 15 points, shot 5 of 6 and made four free throws to extend his streak to 26, eight shy of the program record. The Midshipmen shot 61 percent, made 9 of 14 three-pointers and forced 18 turnovers en route to a 10-point halftime lead and a 25-point advantage late in the game.

"We try to come out every game with high intensity," Kina said. "We executed from the beginning and just did what we were supposed to do."

The Midshipmen -- whose losses have come to St. John's and Villanova -- got off to a blazing start. More precisely, Kina got off to a blazing start. He had a pair of steals and layups, and made the first of his team's six first-half three-pointers.

Navy's aggressive defense forced six turnovers in the first six minutes and, by the time the Tribe (1-3) reached double figures with 8 minutes 26 seconds left, the Midshipmen already were comfortably ahead. The lead reached 29-15 with 5:46 to go on Sprink's first points of the game, a three-pointer that improved Navy's long-range efficiency to 5 of 6.

Corey Johnson added a three-pointer with just over a minute remaining for Navy, but the Tribe's Kyle Carrabine made his third and, after Sprink's driving layup, Nathan Mann's three-pointer cut the Midshipmen's lead to 38-28 at the break.

Navy, though, began the second half in the same manner as the first, forcing two quick turnovers and scoring six straight points, including another steal and breakaway by Kina.

The advantage did not dip below nine again.

"We know he can score," Lange said of Kina. "We have been really using his offense to get shots for other guys. Kaleo is a good basketball player that is learning how to play. He's one of those kids that there is a very fine line between his fearlessness and the discipline and, as soon as he masters that line, he's going to have a chance to be a great one."

Midshipmen Notes: Once rivals in the Colonial Athletic Association, the teams had not faced each other in six years. . . . Navy will visit Longwood on Friday, then play four consecutive home games, starting Monday against Howard. . . . David Schneider, the Tribe's second-leading scorer, did not play after aggravating an injury Saturday against Holy Cross.