Navy wins at Bryant, 79-71

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior Bryce Dulin poured in 21 points and senior Tom Lacey posted a double-double in Navy’s 79-71 win at Bryant on Saturday afternoon. Navy improved to 2-2 with its first road win of the season, while Bryant fell to 0-3.

“It was a great win for us,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “We didn’t play very well on Wednesday night at Penn, and the team showed some real resiliency coming back here on Saturday afternoon and playing another one on the road.”

Navy led by 12 points with 5:21 left in the second half, but the Bulldogs reeled off a 12-2 run to cut the margin to just two points at 72-70 with 90 seconds remaining. Bryant’s run was keyed by back-to-back 3-pointer by sophomore Adam Grant.

Senior guard Shawn Anderson made a steal in the lane to thwart a Bryant possession and then junior guard Hasan Abdullah made a free throw to put Navy ahead 74-70 with 40 seconds remaining.

After the teams each traded one free throw, Lacey made a critical block on Bosko Kostur’s 3-point attempt with 15 seconds left before two free throws by Abdullah pushed Navy’s lead to six. Grant missed another 3-pointer with under 10 seconds left and Dulin grabbed the rebound then made two more free throws to seal the win at 79-71.

“That was a good thing for us,” DeChellis said about his team holding off the late Bryant rally. “But we did some foolish things on the press offense to let Bryant come back. We have to get better at taking care of the basketball in those situations. When you have time and the lead, you have to get a good shot every time down the floor. You can’t turn the ball over.”

Navy got off to a fast start in the contest, racing out to a 9-0 lead after Dulin hit his first of four 3-pointers. Bryant was able to chip away and took its first lead of the game at 15-14. The contest would go back-and-forth late in the first half before Bryant took a 35-33 lead to the locker room.

Navy took control of the game with a 23-8 run over seven minutes midway through the second half. The run was ignited by back-to-back 3-pointers by Anderson and Abdullah. Lacey converted an and-1 opportunity during the stretch and also had a put-back layup. Dulin swished yet another 3-pointer and Lacey’s first dunk of the season put the Mids up 12 at 70-58 with 5:21 remaining.

Navy shot a season-high 54.2 percent from the floor (26-of-48) and also shot a season-best from 3-point range at 52.9 percent (9-of-17). Navy’s nine 3-pointers made were a season-high.

“We made some baskets today, which opened some things up for us on the inside,” said DeChellis. “Bryce and Shawn played a lot of two-man basketball together with one of them posting up. That helped to get them some shots and to also get to the free throw line.”

Navy outrebounded Bryant, 37-23, to post its largest rebound margin of the season at +14.

Dulin was 6-of-15 from the floor, 4-of-9 on 3-pointers and 5-of-10 at the free throw line for his season-high 21 points. Dulin also had four rebounds, two assists and one steal in a career-high 39 minutes.

Lacey posted his eighth career double-double in the contest with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Lacey was 7-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the free throw line, while also tallying two assists and two blocked shots in 36 minutes. Lacey scored 13 of his 17 points after halftime.

Lacey also had a big game in Navy’s win against Bryant last season with 16 points and 17 rebounds.

Abdullah scored 16 points in the contest and knocked down three 3-pointers. He also had four rebounds and two steals.

Anderson scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half, while also filling up the stat sheet with seven rebounds, five assists and one steal.

Kostur scored a game-high 25 points for Bryant, while Ikenna Ndugba added 15. Kostur was 5-of-5 on 3-pointers. Grant scored 14 points for the Bulldogs, 10 points below his season average.

Navy was playing its fourth game in a fourth different state in the season’s first nine days on Saturday. Navy will next host Division III Washington College on Wednesdayat 3:00 PM.