Navy was picked to finish seventh in the Patriot League preseason poll, but coach Billy Lange didn't pay attention to that because he knew his 11 returning players were strong and athletic enough to contend for the conference title.
The Midshipmen continued to prove the pundits wrong by tying for the Patriot League lead with an 83-68 victory over American last night before an announced 3,191 at Alumni Hall.
Navy (16-12) and American (17-11) are both 9-4 in the conference, but the Mids have a tiebreaker edge because they swept the season series.
If Navy beats Colgate on Saturday, it will clinch the Patriot League regular-season title and be the top seed in the conference tournament.
Either way, Navy clinched home games for the tournament quarterfinals and semifinals. The Mids also ended American's six-game winning streak.
Greg Sprink scored 34 points, including 13 in the final six minutes, and Kaleo Kina had 17 for Navy, which has won six straight conference games - its longest Patriot League winning streak in eight years.
"I don't believe in external motivation, because when you are successful, what is your motivation?" Lange said about the preseason prediction. "Our motivation is to play for our institution and take great pride in our basketball program."
American took its first lead of the game, 53-51, on two free throws by Garrison Carr (20 points) with 9:10 remaining. But Navy regrouped after a timeout and outscored the Eagles 28-10 in the final six minutes.
The Mids won despite shooting just 10-for-28 in the second half and 25-for-63 overall.
Sprink scored 16 points in the first half and gave Navy a 41-29 lead on a three-pointer with 3:12 left. Navy scored 13 points off American's 10 turnovers and led 41-33 at the half.
"At times, I think I was trying to force it too much because I got kind of caught up in the emotion of the game," Sprink said. "I had my teammates and coaching staff there to harness all of that energy. I just let the game come to me."
American made the most of its early opportunities and shot 12-for-23 (52.2 percent) from the field in the first half before going 12-for-27 after halftime. The Eagles also outscored Navy 34-18 inside the paint.
"This year, we haven't really shown that we can guard Sprink," American coach Jeff Jones said. "He had to work for [his points] and he put up a lot of shots. We don't have that one guy who can match that."
AMERICAN-Simon 2-7 0-0 5, Lay 5-6 4-6 14, Guibunda 2-4 0-0 4, Mercer 3-7 5-10 11, Carr 7-17 2-2 20, Gilmore 2-5 3-3 7, Borden 1-2 0-0 3, Penny 0-0 0-0 0, Nichols 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 24-50 14-21 68. NAVY-Biles 1-1 0-0 2, Sprink 11-24 6-6 34, Harris 4-9 1-2 13, Garcia 0-6 2-2 2, Kina 5-12 4-4 17, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Colbert 1-3 4-4 6, Richards 1-2 0-2 2, Teague 2-6 0-0 6, Veazey 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 25-63 18-22 83. Half-Navy 41-33. 3-point goals-American 6-15 (Carr 4-9, Borden 1-1, Simon 1-2, Mercer 0-1, Gilmore 0-2), Navy 15-38 (Sprink 6-15, Harris 4-7, Kina 3-7, Teague 2-6, Colbert 0-1, Garcia 0-2). Fouled out-Mercer. Rebounds-American 39 (Lay 10), Navy 30 (Colbert, Sprink 5). Assists-American 13 (Mercer 4), Navy 18 (Harris, Sprink 7). Total fouls-American 19, Navy 20. A-3,191.