Pat Harris’ men’s basketball squad headed into a mid-week road tilt at Binghamton with a 5-7 record and some needed experience in how to win close games. It would prove to be their last tune-up before beginning Patriot League play Saturday here at 3:15 p.m. against Colgate.

Monday night the Black Knights snapped a three-game slide with a record–setting 113-88 win over Division III Bethany.

Harris said the slate of teams that his charges faced in their non-conference schedule were chosen to give the Black Knights a feel for the structured teams they would face during Patriot League play.

"We have played a lot of teams that are very, very structured and that’s what the PL is all about," Harris said. "When we played Yale, we played a very structured team and a big team. We will face that again when we face a team like Navy."

Looking at what some of Army’s non-conference opponents have done, New Hampshire went on and beat Boston University. Stony Brook beat Navy. Yale played Holy Cross close, Harris noted. "We have prepared ourselves to face teams that are very, very similar to what we are going to see in the PL."

The slew of tight games the Black Knights have been in so far this season has them battle-tested for the PL.

More work needs to be done though, Harris added.

While he feels his team is improved, he said they "are still growing as a basketball team."

"We have a nice combination of some older players and some younger players," Harris explained.

Two welcome additions to the squad have been freshman guards J.P. Spatola, the younger brother of junior guard Chris Spatola, and Andy Smith.

Harris admits in the past Army freshmen have been thrown into the fires of Division I college basketball too early.

He explained by saying what Army is trying to do is to grow kids into the program. After their freshman year they begin to develop their role and perform within the system.

"The perfect example is junior Charles Woodruff," Harris said. "He is someone who came to the realization of what his role is . . . and just continues to get better at it."

He cites Chris Spatola’s development and looks for more improvement. "We are still going to see better days out of him even though we have seen some very, very good ones already," Harris said.

With his younger brother assuming the duties at point guard, the elder Spatola has shifted over to shooting guard -- a move that Harris said is still working itself out.

"It is a difficult transition for Chris to go from point guard and always having the ball in his hands to shooting guard and I think he is still adjusting."

The addition of Smith should take some of the scoring burden off Chris, Harris explained.

"Teams will soon have to worry about Chris on one side and Andy on the other," the West Point Class of 1979 graduate said.

As of press time, Army’s record was 5-7.

"We could easily be 10-2. We could easily be 2-10," Harris stated.

"I think our kids have seen enough close games that they won’t freeze once they play against a Bucknell, or Lafayette when it is a close game."