Army Black Knights Stay Close to Top of Patriot League Basketball Race

The Army Black Knights men’s basketball team is still within striking distance of claiming the Patriot League’s No. 1 tournament seed.

Army's Josh Scovens goes for a layup against Fairleigh Dickinson University's Cameron Tweedy during the game on November 20, 2024. / Patrick Oehler/Poughkeepsie Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Army West Point Black Knights men's basketball team pulled off a 64-60 win over Loyola (MD) on Wednesday, a win that keeps them within striking distance of the top of the Patriot League.

With five games remaining in league action, the Black Knights (15-10, 9-4 in Patriot) are one of two teams with an overall winning record for the season. The other is American (16-10, 10-3), which leads the conference overall, one game ahead of Army.

The Black Knights’ win was important because they’ll face American in a week, a game that could allow Army to close into a first-place tie. The Black Knights need the win. When the two teams met earlier this season, American won, 71-68.

But Army can’t look ahead. Why? Well, the Black Knights are heading to Annapolis to face Navy on Saturday, which is the designated Star Series game. Navy (9-17, 6-7) is tied for fifth place and would love to play spoiler to its arch-rival.

Incredibly, the Black Knights started Patriot League action in January with back-to-back losses to open play. After that, Army rebounded to win five straight games before falling to, of all teams, Navy, 66-53, at Christl Arena.

Army bounced back with a win over Colgate before the American loss and have now won three straight games.

While Josh Scovens led Army with 22 points on Wednesday, it was their reliable star, Jalen Rucker, who poured in the game’s final points.

With the game tied at 60-60, he broke the tie with 44 seconds left by hitting a jump shot. With 20 seconds left he was fouled by Loyola, and he drained a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game.

Rucker ended up with 19 points but failed to make a 3-pointer on six attempts.

Army is basically assured of not playing in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament, which is set for March 4 and hosted by the higher-seeded team. That round is for the bottom four seeds.

But, by finishing among the Top 2 seeds, Army would not only get two extra days off before hosting a quarterfinal on March 6 the Black Knights would also face one of the winners of those first-round games, which will be playing on one day’s rest.

The semifinals will be on March 9 at campus sites, with the championship game set for March 12. The winner gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Army has never been to the NCAA Tournament.

Recommended Articles

feed