Fannin

A pair of plebes showed last night that, despite its current troubles, the future of Navy's basketball team looks bright. The present, however, remains gray and dreary. American defeated Navy, 64-61, at Alumni Hall, giving the Eagles a season sweep over the Mids for the second year in a row. Senior guard Steven Miles scored 27 points to lead American, helping the Eagles overcome an excellent night by Navy freshman David Hooper, who scored 24 points, the most by a plebe since Michael Heary had 31 against Army in 1995.

With passion and defensive determination, Navy broke its eight-game losing streak and gave first-year coach Billy Lange his first Patriot League victory last night. Senior forward George O'Garro led the renewed fervor with career highs of 24 points and 11 rebounds and seemed ubiquitous with his floor game as the Midshipmen held off Colgate, 82-71, before 1,324 at Alumni Hall. It was the first win for Navy (5-14, 1-5) since Dec. 21 and ended a five-game skid in the series with the Raiders.

These are not the best of times for the Navy men's basketball team, and for a multitude of reasons, nothing comes easy. But for a few fleeting moments yesterday at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, the Midshipmen pushed all that aside. On the backs of two sophomore reserves, Navy grabbed six-point, second-half lead over Bucknell, a team that had thrashed the Mids by 41 points in their previous meeting. But Navy's next four possessions - turnover, turnover, miss, turnover - spelled doom for a team that has struggled to score points.

It's not quite accurate to say that the UMBC basketball team has been bad on the road the past few seasons. Atrocious, instead, seems like a more accurate description. The Retrievers came into last night's game against Navy having lost 10 consecutive road contests and 22 of their past 24. But for whatever reason, UMBC seemed to feel right at home in Alumni Hall, as the Retrievers played their best game of the season, shooting 58.4 percent in a 95-82 win over the Midshipmen. UMBC (5-7)

In a game Navy sorely needed to improve its positioning for the Patriot League tournament, the Midshipmen wasted no time seizing the initiative last night. They bolted ahead early behind the hot shooting of senior captain Taj Mathews, withstood Lafayette's best run, then pulled away for a 76-57 victory that sealed the tournament's sixth seed and guaranteed they will not have to play a quarterfinal against Bucknell on its home court. Navy (9-17, 5-8) made the final home game of Mathews (24 points, four assists, three steals)

Greg Sprink hit a three-pointer at the end of regulation and scored five points in overtime to lift the Navy men's basketball team over Army, 67-62, yesterday in West Point, N.Y. Sprink finished with 23 points for the Midshipmen (9-13, 2-6 Patriot League). Matt Bell had 18 points for Army (5-16, 1-8). Matt Fannin scored in the lane with 34 seconds left in overtime to give Navy the lead for good, 63-62. Manhattan 86, Loyola 68 -- Devon Austin and Jeff Xavier each scored 19 points, and Arturo Dubois had 18 to lead the host Jaspers (14-7, 10-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

Glen Burnie's Melani Scharf broke an ankle two days before the state volleyball playoffs in 1988. She anguished on the sidelines as the Gophers bowed to six-time state Class 4A champion Thomas Wootton.Wootton wasn't around Saturday at Catonsville Community College, but Scharf was. The Gophers' senior captain helped her team to its first state title for coach Juanita Murdock-Milani. The Gophers defeated Oxon Hill, 16-14, 15-9, 15-6."I don't know if it was nerves, or what," said Scharf, trying to explain her team's first-game rally from a 13-2 deficit.

Miami cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke posted the third-fastest time at the NFL scouting combine since 2000. Van Dyke, who met with the Ravens during the combine, ran the 40-yard dash Tuesday in 4.28 seconds. Over the past 12 combines, only East Carolina running back Chris Johnson (4.24 in 2008) and Houston cornerback Stanford Routt (4.27 in 2005) were faster. "Everybody here is fast," Van Dyke said during the combine, "but you have to be faster to stand out in the DB group. " At 6 feet, 168 pounds, Van Dyke was rated the 23rd-best cornerback prospect by Pro Football Weekly.

After a two-year federal investigation involving wiretaps, confidential informants and undercover drug buys, a grand jury has indicted at least a half-dozen people, mostly Anne Arundel County residents in their 20s and 30s, on charges that they conspired to import cocaine from Panama for distribution. Six defendants were arrested this week and appeared in U.S. District Court on Friday to determine whether they would be jailed pending trial. Among those ordered detained were Melinda Lewis, who has a prior federal drug conviction; Howard Fannin Jr., who is alleged to have threatened violence against co-conspirators and a potential informant; and Randy Lee Davis, who along with defendant Mark Milligan Jr. was earlier convicted of reckless endangerment for shooting at undercover police officers in 2006.

The mood was festive for the debut of new Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos at Reitz Arena last night. Many who knew or worked with Patsos while he was an assistant under Gary Williams at Maryland for 13 seasons showed up for support - and it was an impressive group. The spectators included Red Auerbach, Juan Dixon, Greg Manning and Billy Hahn. But Navy freshman guard Corey Johnson spoiled the party by scoring 13 of his 21 points in the second half to help the Midshipmen rally for an 89-86 victory over Loyola before 1,645.