Courtesy of NavySports.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men’s basketball team (2-4) knocked off previously unbeaten UMBC (4-1), 78-66, on Wednesday evening at Alumni Hall. Five players scored in double figures for the Midshipmen.
Sophomore guard Ryan Pearson scored a team-high 15 points with three rebounds and three assists, while junior guard Bryce Dulin tallied 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore forward George Kiernan came off the bench to score a career-best 14 points, while senior Zach Fong added 11. Junior forward Tom Lacey posted 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
“I was very proud of our team tonight,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “We didn’t have a very good weekend at High Point and we were shorthanded here tonight, but other guys stepped up. We had great production off the bench with George Kiernan and Zach Fong. Guys played with confidence in the first half. I thought we shot the ball well, we shared the ball well and our defense was pretty solid.”
Junior guard Jairus Lyles led UMBC with 15 points, while senior forward Will Darley added 12.
Navy used a 14-0 run to turn a 20-17 deficit to a 31-20 lead over three-minute span late in the first half and the Mids led by as many as 21 points.
The Retrievers jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the game, but the Mids were able to climb back with 3-pointers by Pearson and sophomore guard Hasan Abdullah. After UMBC’s Arkel Lamal and Fong traded 3-pointers, UMBC pulled ahead at 20-17.
Navy then reeled off an immediate 13-0 run and an overall spurt of 25-6 to go ahead by 16 points at 42-26. Fong hit two more 3-pointers during the run and Kiernan also knocked down a pair of treys. Dulin threw down one of his three dunks during the game as well.
Navy pushed its lead to 21 points early in the second half on another dunk by Dulin and eventually extended it to game-high 23 points at 65-42 on a layup by Lacey. A third 3-pointer by Kiernan and then a layup by Lacey had Navy up 20 at 75-55 with 4:40 left, but the Retrievers closed the game on an 11-3 run to cut the final margin to 12 at 78-66.
The Mids scored a season-high 78 points, knocked down a season-best 11 3-pointers and shot 56 percent from the floor. Navy outrebounded UMBC, 35-23, and received 31 points off the bench.
Abdullah had six points, four assists and a game-high four steals in the contest. Abdullah leads the Patriot League in steals with 2.3 per game.
Navy held UMBC to 22 points under its season scoring average of 88.0 points and UMBC’s 66 points on Wednesday was a season-low.
Navy was without the services of junior guard Shawn Anderson, senior guard Tim Abruzzo and senior forward James Hemphill on Wednesday.
Navy takes an 11-5 lead in the all-time series against UMBC.
Navy will next host Penn on Saturday at 2:00 PM.
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