Courtesy of NavySports.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men’s basketball team (4-6) rallied from a 25-point halftime deficit to beat Bryant (3-7), 76-74, on Tuesday evening at Alumni Hall. Bryant led the Mids, 49-24, at halftime, but Navy stormed back to stun the visiting Bulldogs. The 25-point comeback was the largest in Navy school history. It was also the second-largest halftime deficit overcome to win a game in NCAA history and it was tied for the 10th-largest deficit overall to overcome to win a game in NCAA history.
“I thought out defensive intensity in the second half was outstanding,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “I’m proud of our guys and the way we came back. That was the largest comeback in school history. There is a fiber in their bellies, we just have to build on it.”
Navy took its first lead of the game at 73-72 with 38 seconds left in the game when junior guard Shawn Anderson drove the lane and then dished to junior forward Tom Lacey for a layup. Bryant quickly regained the lead at 74-73 when Adam Grant made a jumper with 26 seconds remaining. Anderson drove the lane again and finished with 13 seconds left to put the Mids back in the lead at 75-74.
Bryant came down the court looking for the game-winner, but sophomore forward George Kiernan drew an offensive charge on Nisre Zouzoua with seven seconds to go. Anderson was fouled on the inbounds pass and made one of two free throws to extend Navy’s lead to 76-74. Grant got off the game-tying jumper at the buzzer but it went off the rim and Anderson grabbed his eighth rebound of the game as his teammates raced onto the court to celebrate.
“Individually we had to put a stick in the ground and say `enough is enough’ and as a team we came together and we made stops,” said Anderson. “We went out there and trusted the coaches, trusted our teammates and finally did what the coaches have been asking us to do all season. We picked it up on the defensive end and that translated to easy shots for us.”
Navy outscored Bryant 52-25 in the second half. Navy shot 58 percent in the second half, compared to Bryant’s percentage of 40 percent. In the first half, Bryant outshot Navy, 58 percent to 23 percent.
“In the second half we were able to bear down and we got into them defensively,” said Lacey. “We got some toughness going and they started to miss some shots. One thing that you can see in this team is we have heart. But we have to start putting together 40 minutes at a time.”
Lacey finished with 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Lacey’s 11 offensive rebounds established a new school record. Kiernan scored 14 points off the bench.
Grant led Bryant with a game-high 24 points and Zouzoua added 21.
Bryant jumped out to a 19-2 lead in the first nine minutes of the first half. At that point in the game, Bryant was 8-of-13 from the field, while Navy was just 1-of-10 with six turnovers.
Navy’s Zach Fong hit a 3-pointer to break the 19-2 spurt and Lacey would later score on back-to-back possessions as the Mids tried to get back into the game. The Mids cut the lead to 11 points at 31-20 after a Kiernan 3-pointer, but Bryant closed the half on an 18-4 run to take the 25-point halftime lead at 49-24.
Lacey, Fong and Anderson, followed by DeChellis, delivered the halftime speeches to ignite a spark in Navy’s play in the second half.
Junior guard Bryce Dulin sunk 3-pointers on Navy’s first two possessions of the second half and then Lacey made a layup. Fong was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three of the free throws and then Dulin hit another jumper for a second half-opening 13-0 run. Bryant’s Marcel Pettway finally put Bryant on the board in the second half after four minutes, but Kiernan followed with a 3-pointer and then his fastbreak layup cut the margin to just nine points at 51-42 with 14:34 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Bryant’s Gus Riley momentarily slowed the Mids, but Kiernan followed with a jumper and then a steal by junior Nourse Fox led to a Fong 3-pointer in transition. Senior Edward Alade scored inside off a pass from Fong to cut Navy’s deficit to just five points at 54-49. Alade’s layup extended Navy’s second half-opening run to 25-5.
Bryant responded with a 10-2 run of its own to open a 13-point margin, but the resilient Mids would fight right back. Senior guard Tim Abruzzo made a 3-pointer and then fed Kiernan on a fastbreak layup. Two minutes later Anderson made two free throws to cut the margin to seven points and then went coast-to-coast for a fastbreak layup after a defensive rebound. Anderson then got another board and led Dulin who scored on another fastbreak laup to cut the margin to three at 68-65 with four minutes to play.
Grant hit a jumper for Bryant, but Abdullah made two free throws and Anderson made a steal on Bryant’s next possession and took it all the way for a layup to cut the margin to one at 70-69.
Grant made a layup to push the lead to three, but Kiernan’s two free throws had Navy down one once again. Abdullah grabbed the defensive rebound after a Bryant miss, which led to the Lacey layup with 38 seconds left that gave Navy its first lead. Grant and Anderson then traded baskets, with Anderson’s being the eventual game-winner with 13 seconds left.
Fong finished with 12 points on three 3-pointers, three assists and two rebounds, while Dulin scored 12 points with three rebounds. Anderson totaled nine points, eight rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes.
Navy outrebounded Bryant 41-37 and held an 18-8 edge in fastbreak points. Navy also led in bench points, 33-11.
Navy improves to 4-1 at Alumni Hall this season with its only loss coming against Ohio State in the season-opening Veterans Classic. However, Navy is a combined 0-5 in combined road and neutral games this season.
Anderson also scored the game-winning basket with 16 seconds remaining in Navy’s 70-68 win over Penn on November 26.
Navy will next host Columbia on Friday at 7:00 PM.
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