Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Sophomore Shawn Anderson scored 18 points and led a balanced team effort as the Navy men's basketball team (1-2) earned a 67-55 win at USC Upstate (0-3) on Thursday evening. Anderson finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Senior guard Tilman Dunbar scored 11 points and sophomore forward Jace Hogan added 10 points and five rebounds. Senior Will Kelly had nine points, five boards and five blocks, senior Kendall Knorr had five points and a game-high seven rebounds, while sophomore Bryce Dulin added eight points off the bench.

"It was a great team effort tonight," said head coach Ed DeChellis. "It was a game we really had to have after losing our first two games at home. All the guys contributed and all the guys were focused and dialed in. I thought we played well on both ends of the floor."

For the third straight game Navy jumped out to a big early lead, going ahead 7-0 in the first four minutes. Dunbar swished a 3-pointer and then Kelly and Hogan both scored. USC Upstate cut the lead to three, but Dulin and Anderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and then a layup by Hogan extended the lead to 11 points.

Navy got a big break late in the second half when after Kelly made three straight free throws on back-to-back possessions, he missed a fourth, but Anderson corralled the offensive rebound and then he drilled a triple to put the Mids up by 15 points.

Navy's 15-point halftime lead at 34-19 was its first lead after 20 minutes this season.

Navy went on a 9-1 run in the second half to build a 19-point lead. Junior Edward Alade scored two buckets during the stretch and Dulin buried a 3-pointer. Shortly after Kelly threw down a two-handed dunk that rocked the backboard before it shifted back into position.

The Spartans got back-to-back and-1 plays from Jure Span and Deion Holmes and then Holmes connected on a 3-pointer to cut Navy's lead to just six points at 55-49. Then Anderson took over the game, scoring the game's next six points and eight straight points overall for the Midshipmen to extend the lead back up to 12. Dunbar then made a driving layup and then Kelly scored inside as Navy was able to seal the game late en route to the 12-point road win.

"We jumped out and got the lead early and we were able to hold on to it," said DeChellis. "We knew they would make their run and they did, but we were able to keep scoring and withstand it."

Navy entered the game shooting just 32 percent from the floor and 21 percent on 3-pointers, but shot 47 percent from the floor on Thursday (27-of-58) and was 55 percent on 3-pointers (6-of-11).

Navy held a 41-33 edge in rebounding and scored 15 points off of its 15 offensive rebounds.

Kelly's five blocks give him 119 for his career and he remains in fourth place in program history.

Anderson improves his team-leading scoring average this season to 15.3 after averaging 4.3 as a freshman last season.

"I thought Shawn Anderson played great down the stretch," said DeChellis. "We went to him offensively and he scored some big buckets."

Holmes led the Spartans with 18 points.

The Spartans will make a return trip to Navy on December 14 to complete the rare non-conference home-and-home series.

Navy will next host Division III Goucher on Sunday at 12 noon.

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Navy's three seniors received their service assignments surrounded by their teammates on the road trip on Thursday.

Knorr received Naval Aviation, Dunbar received Surface Warfare and Kelly received Marine Corps Ground.