Senior Chris Spatola scored 10 points in the opening six minutes, igniting Army to an early 15-6 lead, and the Black Knights led from wire-to-wire en route to an 85-72 win over Lafayette at West Point’s Christl Arena Saturday.

Spatola, and his sophomore brother, point guard J.P. Spatola, each tallied 19 points as Army (8-9 overall, 2-2 Patriot League) snapped a two-game losing streak and beat Lafayette (8-8, 2-2) for just the second time in the teams’ last 13 meetings. The 19 points were a season-high for J.P. Spatola, who also had three assists.

Chris Spatola’s effort, which came in his 100th career game, pushed his career point total to 1,377. He is seventh all-time in scoring at the academy.

The win moved Army into a four-way tie for third place in the Patriot League and gave the Black Knights their best overall start since 1996-97.

Army senior Jonté Harrell added 13 points and a game-high seven rebounds as Army shot 53.8 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from three-point range. The Black Knights outrebounded Lafayette 34-22.

Army parlayed its fast start into a 41-29 halftime lead before Lafayette made a second-half surge. The Leopards, behind seven points from Brian Burke and six by Mick Kuberka in the half’s opening seven minutes, twice sliced Army’s cushion to five points. The final time, the Leopards moved within 51-46 on a Burke bucket with 13:47 to play, but Army went on a 22-10 run over the next 8:08 to assume a 17-point lead at 73-56 with 5:41 to play. Five different Black Knights registered four points as Army demonstrated offensive balance.

Kuburka tallied a career-high 19 points to lead three Leopards in double figures. Burke added 15 points and Justin DeBerry notched 12. Lafayette shot 54.9 percent from the field.

Senior Dax Pearson came off the bench to score nine points and grab six rebounds for Army. Junior Matt Collins, who replaced Pearson in the starting lineup, tallied seven points and four caroms.

"I think we played our best overall game of the year," said Army head coach Pat Harris. "Lafayette is a very good basketball team. We knew they would make a second-half run, which they did, but we weathered the storm. I told the team before the game that our Patriot League win streak started today, and they came out to play."