Courtesy of NavySports.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy junior guard Shawn Anderson scored the go-ahead layup with 16 seconds remaining and then took a game-saving offensive charge with 1.4 seconds left as the Mids (3-4) defeated visiting Penn (2-2), 70-68, on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
Navy led by 13 points in the first half, but Penn erased that lead and took an eight-point lead of its own with under 10 minutes to play in the game. However, Navy rallied late with a 9-0 run and held Penn scoreless for the final 5:21 to claim the two-point victory.
Anderson scored a team-high 15 points in the contest and his layup off a dish from junior Bryce Dulin with 16 seconds left with Navy down one at 68-67 was his biggest basket of the game. On Penn’s ensuing possession, Anderson drew a charge on Caleb Wood to thwart Penn’s opportunity to re-take the lead. Anderson was then fouled with 0.5 seconds left and made one free throw to give Navy the 70-68 win.
“Penn’s a very good basketball team,” said head coach Ed DeChellis. “This was a great learning experience for our team. We are young in some key spots. We haven’t been in this kind of game. So to be up, then lose they lead, then they go up pretty big and we stormed back and made some plays. It was good to see our guys fight back and have some resiliency and make some plays down the stretch.”
Navy sophomore Ryan Pearson and Hasan Abdullah each scored 11 points in the game with three 3-pointers apiece, while freshman center Evan Wieck tallied 10 points. Junior forward Tom Lacey posted eight points and matched his career-high of 14 rebounds.
Penn’s Wood scored a team-high 15 points to lead four players in double figures. Jackson Donahue scored 12, while AJ Brodeur and Matt MacDonald each notched 10 points.
Navy and Penn went back-and-forth in the early part of the first half and were knotted at 18-18 with 12:45 remaining. The Mids then reeled off a 14-2 run, capped by a Lacey and-one play to give Navy a 10-point lead at 32-22 with 8:16 left in the period. Anderson scored five straight points during the run and Wieck made layups on back-to-back possessions.
At one point during the run, Navy made six straight field goals.
Abdullah took over late in the first half, scoring 11 points (on three 3-pointers) in the final six minutes of the frame to help Navy grow its lead to 13 points at 46-33. Navy scored a season-high 46 points in the first half.
Navy led by 10 at halftime, but Penn scored the first five points of the second half and a 27-9 run over the first 10:47 of the period saw the Quakers go up eight at 63-55. Penn made five 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the half.
The Mids started to lock down defensively and began to chip away at Penn’s lead. Anderson made a layup and two free throws before Penn’s Matt Howard got a fastbreak dunk and then a 3-pointer by Donahue put the Quakers up seven points at 68-61 with 5:21 remaining. Penn would not score again for the rest of the game and Navy would close the contest on a 9-0 run.
“I didn’t think our defense was that good until the last four minutes when we went small and changed the lineup around,” said DeChellis. “We then did a better job defensively and of guarding the ball. We rode out some drives, which was good for us.”
Lacey made a free throw and then a minute later Anderson hit a jumper in the paint. Dulin’s layup with 1:45 remaining cut the margin to two at 68-66. Navy continued to make defensive stops and a free throw by Anderson cut the margin to one at 68-67 with 1:06 remaining.
Penn’s Darnell Forman missed a jumper on the other end and Lacey pulled down his 14th rebound of the game. After a timeout, Dulin drove and pitched to Anderson on the baseline who put the Mids ahead 69-68 with 16 seconds remaining. Anderson then drew the game-saving charge on Penn’s next possession to seal the win.
Navy shot 62 percent from the floor in the first half and 48 percent in the game. Navy made 15 free throws in the game, compared to just four for Penn.
Wieck became the 11th different Midshipman to score in double figures in the first seven games of the season.
Anderson, who missed Navy’s win over UMBC on Wednesday due to a family illness, scored in double figures for the 13th straight game. He leads Navy in scoring at 13.4 points per game.
After dropping three games at the HPU Tournament, Navy has won back-to-back games over UMBC and Penn.
Navy has won three straight home games.
Navy will next play at College of Charleston on Thursday.
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