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Postgame Press Conference | Veterans Classic Central

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Playing in the second annual Veterans Classic on its home court of Alumni Hall, the Navy men's basketball team suffered a 59-41 loss to visiting Florida on the opening night of college basketball Friday.

The Mids had a strong start to the game and led after the first 10 minutes, 11-9, but faded into a very poor night of shooting against Florida's strong defensive play. The Mids shot just 29 percent from the floor, 21 percent on 3-pointers and 25 percent from the free-throw line.

"First of all, my hat is off to Coach White and the Florida Gators," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. "I think they are a very good. They are very long. They are very athletic. They have guys who can score and score at ease. When I looked at the numbers and we give them 59 points and we only turn the ball over 11 times, I thought that was going to be important keeping the ball in our own hands. I thought we'd have a chance, but we just didn't make any baskets. We didn't make any free throws early. We shot ourselves in the foot and we really couldn't make a jump shot."

Navy rattled off an early 9-0 run that saw Will Kelly make a layup while being fouled and then sophomore Shawn Anderson drilled a 3-pointer. The Mids went up 9-2 after Zach Fong's basket was ruled good after a goaltending call.

Navy drew three offensive charges in the game's first six minutes while forcing several Florida turnovers.

However, the Gators made their comeback and closed the first half on a 25-10 run. Navy had a chance to cut the halftime deficit to five in the last 10 seconds, but instead missed a jumper and then gave up an and-1 play to Devin Robinson to go down 10 at 29-19.

Florida's lead grew to 14 early in the second half before a free throw by Tilman Dunbar and a 3-pointer by Bryce Dulin drew the Mids back to a 10-point deficit. Florida then extended its lead to 16 after a 3-pointer from Brandone Francis-Ramirez and a dunk by Dorian Finney-Smith. Anderson responded with a 3-pointer, but the Gators slowly grew their lead up to 20 points.

Navy cut into the lead late when freshman guard Hasan Abdullah scored on back-to-back buckets ruled good by goaltending after blowing past his defender.

Robinson scored a game-high 13 points for Florida and also added 10 rebounds, while Finney-Smith grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Sophomore Jace Hogan, in his first career start, scored a team-high eight points for Navy and Anderson added seven.

Florida outrebounded Navy, 47-33, but the Gators also turned the ball over 19 times. Navy and Florida met for the first time in 54 years and the Gators took a 2-1 lead in the all-time series.

Top-ranked North Carolina defeated Temple, 91-67, in the first game of the Veterans Classic on Friday evening.

The doubleheader was played in front of a sold out Alumni Hall crowd of 5,710 fans.

Navy will next host College of Charleston on Monday at 7 PM.