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WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Navy men's basketball team (7-9, 3-1 PL) reeled off a 16-0 run in the first half and made 18 free throws in the game's final three minutes to seal a 75-66 win at Army (10-5, 1-3 PL) in front of a Christl Arena-record 5,291 fans on Saturday afternoon.

"I thought both teams played so hard in this game," said head coach Ed DeChellis. "They had us a little sideways the first 8-10 minutes, but then we settled into the game. Brandon [Venturini] made a couple big shots for us and we got a little bit of a lead to take into the half.

"I thought we played well in the second half, we gutted it out and made free throws down the stretch. Kendall Knorr came up huge to make some free throws. I thought we played good solid basketball. We only had six turnovers in the game. I couldn't be more proud of my guys tonight."

Army jumped out to an early 19-13 lead before Navy rattled off a 16-0 run over a span of 6:17 to take a 10-point lead at 29-19. Navy locked down defensively to force Army to commit six turnovers during that stretch, while the Black Knights shot 0-of-5 from the floor.

On the offensive end, Navy started the run with a jumper by junior guard Kendall Knorr, followed by a 3-pointer by Knorr, which was later reversed to a 2-point field goal. Junior center Will Kelly scored a layup to tie the game at 19-19 before senior forward Worth Smith knocked down a jumper and senior guard Brandon Venturini drilled a deep 3-pointer. Smith added another layup and then Venturini knocked down a 3-pointer, but this field goal was also reversed to a 2-pointer after video review and a free throw by freshman Shawn Anderson capped the 16-0 spurt.

"It took us awhile to get settled in," said Venturini. "Finally we hit a couple shots and that gave everybody life. We were able to get a couple stops during that run and when we get stops on defense, we play much better on offense."

Navy eventually took a 33-24 lead into halftime.

The Mids caught Army sleeping to open the second half, as junior guard Tilman Dunbar was able to get a breakaway layup off the sideline inbounds pass to begin the second half. Venturini then scored eight straight points for Navy, including six on a pair of 3-pointers, as Navy maintained a double-digit lead.

Senior guard Earl McLaurin hit a 3-pointer late in the shot clock, but the Mids went on a scoring drought that lasted 5:28 and saw Army cut Navy's lead to just two points at 48-46.

Kelly got a big block on the defensive and Dunbar eventually broke the drought with a layup. Knorr knocked down a jumper and then Kelly got an offensive rebound and went back up to score to put the Mids up seven. After Army made a free throw, Knorr threw a long pass to Smith on the inbounds play and he got free for a fast-break dunk.

Kelly then had another block and knocked down two free throws on the other end to put Navy up nine at 58-49 with under three minutes to go. Those two free throws began the game-closing stretch that saw Navy score its last 18 points of the game at the free throw line, while Army managed to knock down three 3-pointers to keep the game interesting before finally running out of time.

Knorr was sent to the line for the majority of Navy's free throws and went 11-of-13 at the line in the last three minutes to finish with a team-high 17 points on the day to go along with five rebounds.

Venturini scored 15 points and hit three 3-pointers, while Smith had 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks and Dunbar added 10 points, three assists and three steals. Kelly had a strong game off the bench, finishing with eight points, a team-high six rebounds and two blocks. Four of Kelly's six rebounds came on the offensive end.

Kyle Wilson led Army with 18 points and Tanner Plomb added 17 points and eight rebounds. Army knocked down 10 3-pointers in the contest.

Navy outrebounded its opponent for the sixth straight game with a margin of 34-29 on the glass. Navy also committed just six turnovers, while Army had 14 giveaways. Navy was able to score 14 second-chance points and had 18 points off of Army's turnovers.

Navy shot 46 percent from the floor (25-of-54) while Army shot 49 percent (25-of-51). Navy was able to stop a 69-game losing streak when shooting a lower percentage than its opponent. The last time Navy shot a lower percentage than its opponent and still won was against Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 27, 2011.

Navy won at Christl Arena for the third straight season and takes a 74-47 lead over Army in the overall series. Navy is 11-1 against Army this season in all sports and 9-1 in Star Games. This year's Army-Navy Men's Basketball Star Game will be played in Annapolis on February 7.

Navy is 3-1 in Patriot League play for the first time since the 2008-09 season.

Navy will next play at Bucknell (7-10, 2-2 PL) on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.