Dulin scores 30 as Navy holds off Delaware, 82-76

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Senior Bryce Dulin scored a career-high 30 points and senior Shawn Anderson added 20 as the Navy men’s basketball team (6-3) held off Delaware (4-4), 82-76, on Friday evening at Alumni Hall.

Navy led by as many as 15 points early in the second half, but Delaware stunned the Mids with a 17-0 run over a span of four minutes to take its first lead of the game, and then go ahead at 47-43 with 12:45 left in the second half.

Navy answered right back with a quick 8-0 run, and after the two teams went back-and-forth for several minutes, Dulin’s shooting helped Navy pull away down the stretch.

“They came back on us and took the lead, but we came back and took the lead right back,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “That shows some toughness – both mentally and physically for our squad. I’m proud of our guys. They found a way to win the game.”

“We’re seniors,” said Dulin. “We’ve see it all before. We’ve been through it. For us, we just needed to stay calm. We have an older group of guys, and that’s a big help. We have to stay calm in the moment; not get too frustrated or too excited. We had to stick with what we did to get the lead in the first place.”

Dulin had a red-hot shooting night, going 8-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-6 on 3-pointers. He was also 10-of-11 at the free throw line. Dulin’s previous career-high was 23 points vs. Lafayette last season.

“Everyone was getting me open tonight,” said Dulin. “People were driving and finding me. I was just spotting up, nothing really changed and nothing was different. It was just the flow of the game. I got into it kind of early, people were able to find me, and I was hitting tonight.”

Anderson was 7-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-8 at the free throw line for a season-high total of 20 points. He added six rebounds and matched his career-high of six assists in 37 minutes.

“I thought Bryce and Shawn played really, really well,” said DeChellis. “Shawn drove the basketball and got in to the paint, and Bryce made shots. Anytime you get 50 points out of your two wings, that’s a pretty good night for us.”

Navy led for the entire first half, going up seven points at 16-9 after a 3-pointer by junior forward George Kiernan, and going up 10 at 28-18 following a Dulin 3-pointer and an Anderson dish to senior forward Tom Lacey. Junior guard Ryan Pearson’s 3-pointer put Navy up by 11 points and the Mids took a 35-27 lead into halftime.

Navy scored the first seven points of the second half on a layup by Lacey and then five straight points by Dulin. Delaware’s Ryan Daly knocked down a 3-pointer and then a Lacey free throw put Navy ahead at 43-30. That’s when the Blue Hens went on the big 17-0 run, making seven straight field goals and holding Navy scoreless for four minutes.

Navy finally snapped the run when freshman Cam Davis made a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions, and then Lacey made a layup for an 8-0 Midshipman run.

The two teams would go back-and-forth for the next several minutes, but Dulin drilled a 3-pointer to put Navy up four at 62-58, and then sunk another trey to give Navy a six-point lead at 67-61. A 3-pointer by junior guard Hasan Abdullah put Navy up seven with under six minutes to go.

Delaware made another late run as Daly hit two 3-pointers, but Dulin converted an and-1 play with 29 seconds left to push the lead to seven points at 77-70. Dulin and Anderson then both went 2-of-2 from the free throw line in the final 10 seconds to seal the win.

Daly led Delaware with 23 points, while Anthony Mosley added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Lacey tallied nine points, eight rebounds and four assists in a great all-around game for the Mids, while Davis finished with nine points off the bench.

Navy outshot Delaware 51 percent (23-of-45) to 47 percent (26-of-55), while outrebounding the Blue Hens, 33-26.

Navy improved to 16-0 over the last two seasons when scoring at least 70 points.

Friday’s game was the first meeting between the two schools since 1993, and Navy improves to 23-8 all-time against Delaware.

Navy will have a quick turnaround and will host Morgan State (4-3) on Sunday at 1 PM. The game is the first of a Navy basketball doubleheader on Sunday, as the Navy women will host Emory & Henry at 3:15 PM.