American (3-10, 0-2) will head up to Annapolis tonight to face the Navy (10-5, 1-1).
The Eagles are coming off a close 72-63 loss to Colgate. After being down, 8 early in the second half, the home team fought back to tie the game. With 6:24 left in the second half, Sa’eed Nelson’s layup got American to within one at 56-55. But, the Raiders would eventually make 5 out of 6 free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
Navy brings back an experience team this season. After losing their conference opener at Loyola (MD), the Mids responded with a 78-66 win against Lehigh. George Kiernan scored 27 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in 31 minutes in the win. He made 11-14 from the free throw. As a team, Navy made 20-23 free throws in the win.
Once again, Shawn Anderson leads the Mids in scoring at 12.7 points a game. He is one of three players who average in double digits with Bryce Dulin (11.3) and Hasan Abdullah (10.6) being the other two.
The Eagles will need to be prepared for the physicality Navy will bring to the game. Tom Lacey leads the team with 5.9 rebounds a game and serves as a physical presence in the paint. The Mids are also physical on the perimeter as players like Anderson and Abdullah frequently body up their man on dribble penetration making it difficult to get a clean drive to the game.
The two teams split the series last season with the visitor getting the victory each time.
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