BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Ever the optimist, Navy men’s basketball coach Billy Lange is confident his young squad has the talent to be a serious contender for the Patriot League title ... in two years.

This season, the Midshipmen are relying heavily on five plebes, and the inconsistency that comes with fielding a young team is evident by their recent play. After starting the season 11-7, Navy has lost five straight games and is now 11-12 overall and 1-7 in the Patriot League.

Navy looks to get back to .500 tonight when it plays at conference foe Lehigh (10-14, 5-3). The Midshipmen then play Saturday at Lafayette (8-15, 2-6).

“The talent is there for this freshman class to have one of the biggest impacts that any class at Navy has had in recent years,” Lange said. “But I don’t want to put that type of pressure on them right now. The players and I came here to build something, and we’re not even close to being done yet.”

Among Navy’s top plebes is forward Trey Stanton. The 6-foot-10 native of Friendswood, Texas is third on the team in scoring (7.9 points per game) and rebounding (4.2). Still, Stanton admits the season has been difficult, especially in league play, where most low-post players are much bigger than his 210-pound frame.

“I’m doing everything I can to hold my ground, but these guys are so big,” Stanton said. “I feel like I’m skilled enough to compete with these players, but I just have to keep getting stronger.”

Stanton said the current losing streak has been tough, especially for the freshmen, but it has not diminished their hopes for long-term success.

“We’ve hit a pretty rough spot while playing in a tough conference,” Stanton said. “We’re also dealing with all of the other adjustments that come with your first year at the Naval Academy. But everyone is working hard and trying to mesh better with each other while continuing to develop as a young team.”

While the Midshipmen are taking their lumps in the Patriot League now, Lange doesn’t expect that to be the case in the near future.

“Right now we’re rebuilding and the other seven teams in the league aren’t,” Lange said. “In a few years, the men on this team will have played a lot together and won’t be inexperienced anymore.”

NAVY NOTES

» Among Navy’s freshmen class, guard Chris Harris is averaging 4.1 points a game; forward T.J. Topercer is right behind him at 3.5 points a game.

» Junior guard Greg Sprink became the 17th Midshipmen to score at least 1,000 career points after finishing with 18 in Navy’s 78-63 loss Friday against Bucknell. Sprink leads the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game.

» Navy is seventh in the Patriot League in scoring offense (62.3) and fifth in scoring defense (61.5).