Return to the "POINTER VIEW"November 21, 2001
Return to the "POINTER VIEW"
November 21, 2001
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Army senior off-guard Chris Spatola tied classmate Dax Pearson with 19 points during the 72-61 win over the Bears. Here, he sinks one of his eight free throw attempts on the day. Army’s next home contest is Saturday at 2 p.m. against New York Maritime. |
Seniors Dax Pearson and Chris Spatola scored 19 points apiece, and sophomore point guard J.P. Spatola dished out a career-high 11 assists, as Army opened its 100th basketball season with a 72-61 win over Coast Guard at West Point’s Christl Arena Saturday.
Leading 35-23 at halftime, Army (1-0) weathered two second-half surges by Coast Guard (0-1) to defeat the Bears for the 13th time in 13 meetings. Coast Guard trimmed a 10-point deficit to three, 48-45, with 9:54 remaining, before Army pulled ahead 61-51 with 5:39 to play.
Successive three-point baskets by Sam Cheung pulled the Bears within 61-57 with 4:41 left, but Army pulled away by making 9 of 12 free throws the rest of the way.
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| Army senior forward Jonte Harrell tied for the team lead with eight rebounds Saturday. Here he looks inside as Coast Guard swingman Jim Hiltz defends. |
Pearson narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with eight rebounds, tying senior Jonte Harrell for team-high honors. Sophomore Andy Smith chipped in with 11 points for just his second career double-digit scoring effort.
J.P. Spatola masterfully directed the Army offense Saturday. Just after Coast Guard’s first second-half surge, he fed Smith for a three-pointer and hit Pearson on a fast break to quickly boost the Black Knights’ lead to eight points. He hit four free throws down the stretch and fed Pearson for a late dunk that helped ice the game. His 11 assists were the most by a Black Knight since Alex Morris registered 11 against Lehigh Feb. 1, 1995. Spatola did not have a turnover Saturday.
Despite shooting just 5 of 21 from the floor, Chris Spatola managed his 19 points by hitting all eight of his free throws. He led the Patriot League in scoring last year (18.5 ppg.) and reached double figures for the 53rd time in his 84 career games.
