Courtesy of NavySports.com
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Navy men’s basketball team (3-5) came up just short at the College of Charleston (5-3) in a 70-64 loss on Thursday evening at TD Arena. The contest featured 22 lead changes and the teams were tied for the seventh time at 54-54 with 4:48 left before Charleston went on a game-clinching 9-0 run.
Redshirt freshman guard Grant Riller scored a game-high 26 points for Charleston. Riller was 10-of-12 from the free throw line himself and helped the Cougars go 27-of-36 from the charity stripe in the game. Junior guard Cameron Johnson scored 14 points, while sophomore forward Jarrell Brantley added 13.
Navy received 32 of its 64 points from its bench as sophomore forward George Kiernan scored a career-high 15 points on three 3-pointers and junior guard Shawn Anderson tallied 14 points with six rebounds.
Junior forward Tom Lacey just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, while freshman center Evan Wieck chipped in with eight points.
Navy held Charleston to 36 percent from the field in the first half, but the Cougars rallied to shoot 59 percent in the second half and 46 percent (18-of-39) for the game. Navy shot 43 percent from the field (24-of-56).
Navy committed 21 turnovers in the game, while Charleston gave the ball away 18 times. Charleston held a critical 32-14 edge in points off turnovers.
“I loved our team’s effort and our energy level; I thought we played really hard,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “But you can’t have all the turnovers and give them all the points off turnovers that we did. That was the key to the game. We were still in the game, but we turned the ball over too much.”
Charleston jumped out to an early 7-5 lead, but sophomore Ryan Pearson’s second 3-pointer of the first five minutes ignited an 8-0 Navy run. Kiernan followed with a 3-pointer and then Lacey scored on a tip-in to put the Mids ahead 13-7. Charleston then went on a 10-2 run to take a 17-15 lead after a 3-pointer by Johnson.
The teams went back-and-forth and Navy took the lead again when sophomore guard Hasan Abdullah hit a long two-point jumper for a 20-19 advantage. Anderson scored on a layup for Navy before the Cougars came back with four straight points. Abdullah made another jumper and Lacey followed with a bucket to give Navy a three-point lead late in the first half. However, Brantley hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds left to even the halftime score at 26-26.
The Cougars scored the first three points of the second half, but Navy fought right back with back-to-back buckets from Wieck to once again take the lead. The teams would then go back-and-forth for the next six minutes and a jumper by Anderson put the Mids ahead, 41-40.
Navy began to get careless with the ball with four turnovers on its next seven possessions and Charleston took advantage with an 11-2 run to go ahead 51-43 with eight minutes to play.
Navy would not back down as a 3-pointer by Kiernan sparked a comeback. Lacey, Kiernan and Anderson each made two free throws on Navy’s next three possessions as the Mids re-took the lead at 52-51 with its 9-0 run in a span of just 1:37.
“I thought we were really resilient,” said DeChellis. “We were down eight with seven minutes to go and we came right back to retake the lead. I’m proud of them for that. It looked like we were dead to the world, but we came fighting right back to make it interesting.”
Charleston’s Johnson made three free throws but Lacey knotted the game at 54-54 on his second tip-in basket of the night. Charleston would then go on its 9-0 run to take control of the game.
Brantley made two free throws and then a Navy turnover led to a fastbreak layup by Johnson and a four-point lead at 58-54. On the next trip down, Lacey appeared to score a layup with a foul and chance for a three-point play, but instead an offensive charge was called on Lacey. Charleston then continued its run as Riller got to the line for two free throws and then hit a deep 3-pointer to put the Cougars ahead at 63-54 with 1:40 remaining.
Navy forced Charleston to make its free throws in the final two minutes and Kiernan scored five points in the final 41 seconds, but Navy came up short at 70-64.
Anderson scored in double figures for the 14th straight game, which is the longest streak by a Midshipman since J.J. Avila scored in double figures in 16 straight games in the 2011-12 season.
Kiernan was 3-of-6 on 3-pointers in the game and is shooting 60 percent (12-of-20) from beyond the arc this season.
Navy outrebounded the Cougars, 36-27.
Navy will next play at Furman (3-4) on Saturday at 4:00 PM on ESPN3.
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