Courtesy of NavySports.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Led by a 28-point, seven-rebound performance by senior captain Shawn Anderson, the Navy men’s basketball team (18-10, 9-6 PL) defeated visiting Lafayette (8-18, 6-9 PL), 71-69, on Wednesday evening at Alumni Hall. The Mids have won three straight games and are now tied for second place in the Patriot League with Colgate with just three games remaining.
Anderson’s 28 points were a season-high and two off his career-high total of 30 points. He was 11-of-14 from the field and the 11 made field goals were the highest of his 121-game career. Anderson also had three assists in the contest.
“I thought Shawn was really good, really aggressive,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “He stepped in to his threes. I thought he played a very, very good basketball game tonight. I thought he was very good.”
Anderson became the first player in Navy program history to amass over 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds and 300 career assists on Wednesday. He currently has 1,302 points, 508 rebounds and 300 assists.
The opening half saw big momentum swings as Navy scored on its first six possessions to take a 12-2 lead. Lafayette then immediately went on a 15-2 run to go ahead 17-14. Lafayette led for the rest of the half, but Navy closed the period on an 8-3 run to cut Lafayette’s halftime margin to 33-31.
Navy’s Hasan Abdullah had a steal to open the second half and dished to Bryce Dulin for a layup to tie the contest at 33-33, and after Lafayette went up by five, a jumper by Evan Wieck and a fastbreak dunk by Tom Lacey cut the margin down to one.
Lafayette continued to score, but an offensive rebound and putback by junior forward Mo Lewis and then an inside move by Lacey gave Navy its first lead (47-46) since 14-13. Anderson then knocked down a 3-pointer and Dulin followed with a bucket for a 9-0 Navy run and a 52-46 lead.
Lafayette’s Justin Jaworski brought his team back in the game with a 3-pointer and later a three-point play to cut the deficit to one at 56-55. However, Dulin answered back with a jumper and then Lewis had a steal which led to a three-point play on a fastbreak layup by Anderson, which gave Navy a small cushion.
Lafayette tried to rally back but Lewis grabbed defensive rebounds on back-to-back possessions and then made two free throws on a one-and-one opportunity with 52 seconds remaining to put Navy ahead by eight (68-60).
Lewis, who had only played one game in Navy’s last five contests, played big minutes down the stretch, as starting center Evan Wieck fouled out with 7:06 remaining and junior forward George Kiernan left the game before that with an injury. Lewis finished with four points and four rebounds in 10 minutes.
“(We got) great minutes out of Mo,” said DeChellis. “He came through with a nice basket, made his free throws. When he was called upon he did his job. It was nice to see.”
Lafayette continue to battle back as freshman Alex Petrie went on a personal 9-4 run, taking advantage of some missed free throws by the Mids. Navy held on to its 71-69 lead in the final six seconds as Petrie drove into the lane and Abdullah stole the ball away to seal the game before Lafayette could attempt to tie or take the late lead.
Abdullah entered the game ranked 26th in the NCAA in steals per game (2.1) and had three steals on Wednesday. He also had seven assists in the contest.
Dulin was Navy’s second-leading scorer with 14 points to go along with four assists and two steals, while Lacey scored 11 points with eight rebounds.
Petrie led Lafayette with 21 points and Jaworski scored 15.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said DeChellis. “We didn’t do a lot of good things, but we found a way to win. We didn’t shoot the ball well from three and we shot the ball poorly from the free throw line.”
One game after shooting 85 percent (28-of-33) from the free throw line in its win at Army, Navy was just 11-of-22 at the free throw line on Wednesday. The Mids also made just 2-of-12 3-pointers (17 percent).
Lafayette held a slight edge in shooting percentage (50% to 48%), while the Mids outrebounded the Leopards 36-33. Navy held positive margins in points in the paint (46-34), points off turnovers (18-9) and fastbreak points (11-2).
The Mids swept the season series against Lafayette for the third year in a row and they have now won seven straight games against the Leopards.
Lafayette became the fourth Patriot League team that Navy has swept this season. The Mids had already gone 2-0 against Lehigh, American and Holy Cross.
Navy has now won five of its last six games and the team snapped a four-game home losing streak on Wednesday.
Navy will next play at fourth-place Boston U. (8-7) on Saturday at 12 noon. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
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