Army sweeps Navy

A classic showdown on Saturday ended after two halves and a pair of thrilling overtimes as Army, for the first time since 1992, swept its season series with Navy, beating the Mids 69-63 at a sold-out Christl Arena in West Point.

You couldn’t ask for a better setting (the game drew a record crowd of 5,189) or ending to this one, with last-second plays, clutch shots and a ton of excitement inside the arena. Army beat Navy earlier this season in Annapolis and handed the Mids their 17th straight loss after pulling away in the second OT. Navy has had a rough season — they fell to 3-20 with the loss — but you wouldn’t have known by watching this one (I didn’t). A slow start led to some late heroics, to the point that I didn’t see Army coming back with less than a minute left.

Some links from this game:

• A photo gallery of my images on Army’s website
• Tommy Gilligan’s photos on the USMA Flickr stream
• Chet Gordon’s strobed photos for the Times Herald-Record
• More of my shots from the game

The first shot here was taken during the national anthem and shows the cheerleaders holding a U.S. flag that flew during the ’98 Nagano Winter Olympics. I used my 15mm fisheye lens from the first level of the bleachers. This game was also televised nationally on CBS College Sports:

Army looked rusty to start as Navy controlled the ball and possession for much of the first half, leaving me with a lot of shots like this one — far down court. Some of these I used my 300mm f/2.8, but I mostly used the 70-200mm f/2.8L.

Here’s one with the 300mm, a typical waist-up portrait taken around mid-court:

This was another with the 300mm, at the other end of the court:

One angle I like to get is through some windows next to a snack stand on the upper level of the Holleder Center:

The Corps was out in force, with a giant smiling head cut-out of the Commandant, Brigadier General Theodore Martin, taunting Navy all game long. You’ll also notice some exchange students from the Royal Military College of Canada (wearing the green camo uniforms):

Free-throw shots like this were tricky in the first half as the Navy cheerleaders stepped in front of me to distract the shooter.

Here’s Ella Ellis, taken with the 300mm:

Here’s a quick video I took with the 1D Mark IV of Navy missing a potential go-ahead buzzer-beater that would have put the Mids up with six seconds left (click the settings icon to watch it in 720p, or 1080p):

Here’s Julian Simmons (20) eying the scoreboard and reacting after a clutch layup late, prompting a Navy timeout:

Josh Herbeck (23) reacts after hitting a go-ahead three-pointer in overtime that would help seal up Army’s shocking win as Maurice Williams (2) gestures a three to the Corps of Cadets. Herbeck had a great fist-pump reaction when he drained that shot, but it was facing the opposite direction. When he spun around, I snapped this:

Here’s the Corps waving their hands (and broom sticks) during a Navy foul shot:

Of course I whipped out the fisheye for some baseline shots:

One of my favorite images from the day was this layup by Maxwell Lenox as he’s getting some nice air

Finally, time ran out on Navy and the Corps stormed the court, carrying senior Pat Harris around on their shoulders:

Colonel Sam Johnson presents the series’ trophy to Army:

Head coach Zach Spiker became the first Army head coach to win multiple “Star Games” since Mike Krzyzewski won four times.