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Sunday, December 30, 2007
Navy on a win streak
Greg Sprink and Kaleo Kina combined to score 56 points, including nearly every key basket in Navy's 85-83 win Saturday at St. Francis (NY).

Had there been any kind of a crowd on hand in Brooklyn Heights, we might have tried for some sort of "Navy pair beats full house" headline. But only 278 hardy souls witnessed Sprink's 33-point performance.

It was the most points by a Midshipmen since Dec. 22, 2005, when Sprink put up 34 against Brown. The total was not the most impressive part of Sprink's performance. It wasn't his 11 buckets on 18 shots that made the difference as much as the timing of those makes, especially on three of his four three-pointers (on 9 tries).

Navy took tghe lead nine seconds into the game on a Kina three-pointer and never trailed. Four times St. Francis managed to pull even. Three of those four times, it was Sprink who answered to keep Navy on top.

The two times the Terriers tied the game in the second half, Sprink hit a three to put Navy back in the lead. The last time came after SF tied the game at 68-68 with 4:08 to play. That was when Sprink responded with not one, but two threes, back to back, followed by a layup for a one-man 8-0 run that kept the Mids ahead the rest of the way.

The assist on both those threes came from Kina, who finished with 6 dishes and 6 boards to go with his 23 points. Back in the starting lineup, Kina also had three steals in 38 minutes of action.

St. Francis closed to within 3 at 76-73 with a minute to play, but Navy held the Terriers off by hitting 9 of 10 free throws down the stretch. Sprink was 5 for 6 in that span, Kina 2 for 2.

The win, on the heels of last week's win at Maryland-Eastern Shore, gives Navy (5-8) back-to-back wins for the first time this season. With 0-13 New Jersey Institute of Technology (Jan. 2) and 2-12 Longwood (Jan. 5) both set to visit Annapolis next week, the Mids could be riding a four-game win streak when they open conference play Jan. 11 at Bucknell.
Box score | AP

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Published at 7:56 AM by Hoop Time.
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