Courtesy of NavySports.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Junior guard Shawn Anderson scored a season-high 21 points as the Navy men’s basketball team (5-6) posted a sound 69-54 win over Columbia (3-5) on Friday evening at Alumni Hall. The Lions entered the game averaging an Ivy League-best 77.9 points, but Navy held Columbia to a season-low 54 points, which was 23.9 under its season average.
Navy took a 3-2 lead 56 seconds into the contest and held that lead for the rest of the game. The Mids were ahead at halftime, 40-30, and never let the Lions get closer than seven points in the second half.
“We’re a young team and we have a lot of guys playing that don’t have a ton of experience,” said Anderson. “This was a great opportunity to be ahead and understand what it takes to keep a lead when another team is hungry. They came at us in waves and gave us everything they had, but we just happened to hang on and do the things we needed to do to win the game.”
Leading at 19-16 midway through the first half, the Mids went on a 9-0 run to open up a 12-point lead. After an Anderson jumper, junior guard Bryce Dulin grabbed a Columbia giveaway and went coast-to-coast for a fastbreak dunk. Then junior forward Tom Lacey then had a steal and a fastbreak layup with an and-one free throw after being fouled on the play. A steal by sophomore point guard Hasan Abdullah led to two free throws by Dulin and a 28-16 lead.
Sophomore forward George Kiernan took over late in the half, scoring Navy’s last 10 points of the period.
Anderson scored the first five points of the second half, but Columbia cut the margin down to eight after a jumper by Mike Smith, a steal by Patrick Tape and a jumper by Nate Hickman. The Mids then got a dunk from senior center Edward Alade off a Dulin feed.
Columbia would cut the margin to seven points at 48-41 on a Smith 3-pointer, but Navy reeled off a 13-3 run over the next five minutes to put the game out of reach. Senior guard Zach Fong sunk a 3-pointer and then made a steal, which led to two free throws by Anderson. Dulin them climbed the ladder for a big block on Tape. Hickman made a 3-pointer for Columbia, but Dulin answered with a jumper and then Navy forced a turnover.
Anderson scored on a tip-in on the next possession and then Anderson fed freshman Evan Wieck for a layup. Navy forced another turnover and then Anderson scored on another second-chance opportunity after an offensive rebound to give Navy a 17-point lead.
The game would end on a high note as Dulin found Lacey for an alley-oop dunk coming from the left baseline for Navy’s final points of the evening.
Anderson had five rebounds and three assists with his 21 points. Anderson was 7-of-10 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
Dulin scored 13 points with seven rebounds, two assists, one big block and one steal, while Lacey tallied 12 points and seven rebounds.
Kiernan came off the bench to score 11 points with seven rebounds as four Mids scored in double figures.
Hickman led Columbia with 16 points, while Smith scored 15. Tape scored seven points with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Navy outrebounded Columbia, 37-34, and held a 46-38 edge in field goal percentage. Navy forced Columbia to make 19 turnovers, which Navy converted to 23 points.
“I thought we might have played our best defensive game of the season,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “And I thought it was our best overall game. I thought we had some good offensive flow in the first half tonight, but the second half was not as good. Shawn had his best overall offensive game of the season tonight and Bryce did a good job of scoring and picking his moments. When you have four guys in double figures, that’s pretty good.”
Navy improved to 5-1 at home this season and finished the week at 2-0. Navy overcame a 25-point deficit in a 76-74 win over Bryant on Tuesday.
Navy is 2-0 against Ivy League opponents this season. The Mids defeated Penn, 70-68, on Nov. 26.
Navy will have 12 days off for final exams before closing the non-conference portion of its schedule at Hartford on Dec. 22.
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