Box Score

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's basketball team (8-14, 4-6) struggled down the stretch in a 74-65 loss to Lafayette (13-8, 5-5) on Saturday evening at Alumni Hall. The Mids are now tied with Boston University for eighth place in the Patriot League standings.

Navy pulled ahead of Lafayette by four at 60-56 after a dunk by sophomore Edward Alade with 10 minutes remaining, but Lafayette responded with a 12-1 run and Navy managed just five points for the rest of the game.

"I was very disappointed with our defensive effort," said head coach Ed DeChellis. "[Lafayette] scored seven layups in the first 10 minutes of the game. Then in the last 10 minutes, we couldn't score. We had some open shots that didn't go, we had some bad turnovers and some poor execution offensively. When that happens, you don't score any baskets. We had our chances, but we couldn't knock a shot in the last 10 minutes of the game."

Senior forward Worth Smith led Navy with 20 points, five rebounds and a career-best five assists and senior guard Brandon Venturini added 12 points and three assists.

Dan Trist scored a game-high 23 points for Lafayette and pulled down eight rebounds to lead four Leopards in double figures.

The game opened with a fast pace and Lafayette jumped out to a 15-8 lead after the first six minutes. Navy responded back with a 9-0 run that saw five points from Smith. Lafayette then answered right back with an 11-2 spurt to take a 30-23 lead.

The Mids chipped away late in the first half with seven points from Zach Fong. Venturini's 3-pointer with 24 seconds left tied the game at 37-37, but Lafayette's Dan Trist made a three-point play to give the Leopards a three-point halftime lead.

Lafayette began to pull away early in the second half, extending its lead to eight, before Navy stormed back with a 12-0 run to retake the lead at 51-47. Smith had a layup and a 3-pointer, Venturini connected from deep and Will Kelly had a dunk during the stretch.

Navy would continue to lead until the fateful 12-1 Lafayette run that was capped with a 3-pointer from Joey Ptasinski. Navy held Lafayette without a field goal for the final 5:49 of the game, but Navy managed just two baskets on its own end before Lafayette sealed the win by making six straight free throws in the final 46 seconds.

Navy was 1-of-7 from the floor in the final 4:30 of the contest.

Venturini was 4-of-9 on 3-pointers and moved into sole possession of second place in program history for consecutive games with a 3-pointer at 30-straight games. Venturini also moved into a tie for third place in school history with former standout Michael Heary for career 3-pointers with 201.

Junior guard Tilman Dunbar had seven points and five assists and Fong also had seven.

The Mids shot 51.9 percent from the floor (28-of-54), while Lafayette shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52). Lafayette was 10-of-10 from the free throw line, while Navy was just 1-of-4.

Navy had a season-high 25 assists on its 28 field goals.

Navy will next play at Boston U. (4-6) on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.