WEST POINT, N.Y. ? Presbyterian College came close once again to their first NCAA Division I victory, but Army pulled away from the Blue Hose in the final minutes of the second half to garner a 63-58 victory over the Blue Hose on Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak by Army and improved their season record to 2-3. The Blue Hose now stand at 0-7.
Bryan Bostic (Norcross, Ga.) and Al'lonzo Coleman (Charlotte, N.C.) each had 14 for the Blue Hose. Coleman led the squad with a career-high tying seven rebounds.
Josh Johnson (Hendersonville, Tenn.) scored 12 off the bench.
Army senior guard Jarell Brown scored 26 points, including a career-high eight three-pointers. Brown's eight three pointers versus the Blue Hose rank second on the Black Knights' single-game list, only one off the school record.
Brown's 26-point effort came on the heels of his career-best 30-point game at Cornell on Tuesday. In Army's two games this week, the Cleveland native averaged 28.0 points on 18 of 30 from the floor (60 percent), including 13 three-pointers on 20 attempts (65 percent).
The Blue Hose erased a 13-point first-half deficit to lead by six points, 41-35, with 11:47 left in the second half, but Army used an 18-2 scoring spurt take a 10-point lead with 4:48 remaining. PC clawed its way back to within three points on two occasions, but the Black Knights were able to hold on for their first home victory of the season.
Entering Saturday's contest, the Blue Hose were shooting 43.0 percent from long range, averaging 10.7 three-pointers per contest, but the Black Knights' defense limited Presbyterian to only 7-of-19 from deep for the game.
Presbyterian scored the first basket of the second half, but Brown came right back with his fourth three of the game to push lead back to seven points.
From there, the Blue Hose used a 15-2 run to take a 41-35 advantage, but Brown again ignited an Army rally with a three-pointer. Brown's triple sparked the decisive run that gave the Black Knights a 56-46 lead with 4:48 left in the game.
The Blue Hose whittled away at the double-digit deficit by scoring 10 of the next 13 points. A layup by Coleman with 14.5 seconds remaining cut the Army lead to 61-58, but Army sophomore guard Cleveland Richard hit one of two free throws to make it a two-possession game with 11.4 seconds to go.
Presbyterian's final three-point attempt then rimmed out and Richard was able to coral the rebound. He split another pair of foul shots with 2.4 seconds left to set the final five-point margin of victory.
The Blue Hose look to claim victory No. 1 at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28 against Central Florida in Orlando, Fla.
