Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's basketball team (0-2) fought back from a 15-point deficit, but faltered late in a 72-58 loss to visiting College of Charleston (2-0) on Monday evening at Alumni Hall.

The Mids trailed by 15 points midway through the second half but clawed back to get within four with three minutes to go, but Charleston hit three straight 3-pointers to finish off the Midshipmen.

Navy's sophomore class had a breakout performance as starting guard Shawn Anderson scored a career-high 21 points with six rebounds and starting forward Jace Hogan posted his first double-double with career-high totals of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Bryce Dulin came off the bench to score 10 points.

"I thought the three sophomores played really well tonight," said head coach Ed DeChellis. "Jace, Shawn and Bryce did a really good job and they led us in scoring. Jace had 10 rebounds, which is tremendous, and I thought Shawn had a great night. That's positive, but we have to get some other guys going too."

Three days after opening a 9-2 lead on Florida in the Veterans Classic, the hot-starting Mids did it again with an 11-0 opening four minutes against Charleston on Monday evening. Hogan scored Navy's first six points and Anderson drilled a 3-pointer as the Mids raced ahead.

"I thought we were really good coming out of the gate," said DeChellis. "We scored the ball, which is important for us. We got tired and had to go to our bench, but couldn't get any production and kind of lost our momentum. But that's college basketball. It swings back and forth."

Charleston answered Navy's opening spurt with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to get back into the game and the visitors took their first lead when Evan Bailey hit a 3-pointer with 9:20 to go in the first half to put his team ahead 19-18.

Charleston held a six-point lead with 10 seconds left in the first half and was looking to extend, but Cameron Johnson missed a free throw and Anderson raced ahead to finish a fast-break layup with an and-1 foul to cut Navy's halftime deficit to 31-28.

Anderson started the second half just like he finished the first half by scoring another traditional three-point play to tie the game at 31-31.

The Cougars then pulled ahead by hitting three 3-pointers to go up 13 with 14:29 left in the period. After Charleston extended its lead to 15, Navy went on a 22-11 run to get within four, before Charleston's late barrage of 3-pointers sealed the game.

Anderson and Hogan combined for 13 points during the run and junior Edward Alade finished a nice throw-ahead pass from Tilman Dunbar to cut the lead to four at 60-56 with 3:20 left in the game. But Canyon Barry was fouled on a layup attempt but it was ruled good due to goaltending and then Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and a third followed by Barry as the Cougars closed their 72-58 victory.

Barry scored a game-high 22 points after scoring 31 against South Carolina State in the season opener and Bailey had 12. Johnson and Marquise Pointer each added 11 as four Cougars scored in double figures.

Anderson's career-high 21 points came on 7-of-13 shooting and he was 6-of-6 from the free throw line. His previous career-high was 14 against American last season.

Hogan was 4-of-7 from the floor and was 8-of-10 from the line for his 16 points. Hogan had three offensive rebounds and seven on the defensive end, and he grabbed his 10th board with just 32 seconds left in the game to reach the double-double line.

Monday's contest was the first-ever meeting between Navy and Charleston.

Navy will next play at USC Upstate on Thursday evening.