Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Lehigh guard Kahron Ross scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the final five minutes to lead the visiting Mountain Hawks (12-14, 10-5 PL) to a 77-74 win at Navy (18-10, 9-6 PL) on Wednesday evening at Alumni Hall. Lehigh remains in a tie for second place in the Patriot League standings while Navy fell to fourth place with three games to go.

Lehigh shot 14-of-23 (61 percent) on 3-point field goals and made nearly twice as many 3-pointers (14) than 2-point field goals (8) in the contest.

Ross was 8-of-11 from the floor and made all four of his 3-point field goal attempts. Jesse Chuku knocked down 6-of-7 3-pointers for 22 points and Tim Kempton tallied 14 points and nine rebounds.

"It was a frustrating game," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. "It seemed like we couldn't grab any loose balls and then they would grab it and knock down a three. We have been running into some hot teams lately, but you can't let somebody make 14 threes. But we still need to make our free throws and we need to make our one-foot shots. The kids fought back and made a run at them at the end. We still had a chance to win the game."

Senior Will Kelly scored 16 points with eight rebounds for Navy and sophomore guard Shawn Anderson had 16 points and four assists. Junior guard Tim Abruzzo knocked down four 3-pointers to finish with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Kelly scored seven of Navy's first 14 points as the Mids went ahead 14-10 eight minutes into the first half, but then Kelly went to the bench with two fouls. Navy used an 8-0 run on 3-pointers by Anderson and Abruzzo to open its largest lead of the game at 17-10.

Chuku continued to knock down 3-pointers as the Mountain Hawks tied the game at 21-21, before another 3-pointer by Abruzzo. Junior center Edward Alade scored on a putback and after another triple by Chuku, Abruzzo's third 3-pointer of the first half gave Navy a 33-31 lead at the break.

Navy outshot Lehigh 59 percent to 42 percent in the first half, but Lehigh kept it close with its six 3-pointers, four of which were by Chuku.

After sitting out for the majority of the first half, Kelly had a dunk on Navy's first possession of the second half. Sophomore Bryce Dulin scored on a layup before a 3-pointer by Ross, and then Dulin scored again as Navy went up five at 39-34.

Lehigh then hit three more triples as Kyle Leufroy connected and two more by Chuku put Lehigh up four at 50-46. The teams stayed close for the next several minutes before Ross took over the game late, hitting three 3-pointers in a span of just under four minutes to put Lehigh up six at 66-60.

Lehigh's lead grew to as many as 11 points with 42 seconds left after a Ross free throw, but Navy went on a furious rally to draw within two points with under a second to go. Abruzzo started the 13-2 run in a span of 33 seconds with a 3-pointer and then Tilman Dunbar got a steal in Lehigh's backcourt, which led to a layup by Anderson. Lehigh then couldn't inbound the ball and took a five-second violation. Navy couldn't score on the next possession and had to send Chuku to the free throw line, who made both. Kelly then answered with two free throws and then Ross made one-of-two as Lehigh was up 75-68 with 10 seconds left.

Junior Zach Fong was fouled on a 3-point field goal attempt and made all three of his free throws to cut the margin to four with four seconds left. Kempton made one-of-two free throws and then Dunbar hit a 3-pointer with one second left to cut Lehigh's lead to 76-74. Navy fouled immediately and Ross made one free throw.

Navy had a full-court in-bounds play with under a second left down and down three points, but couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer.

Navy outshot Lehigh in the game 52 percent to 44 percent but could make up for Lehigh's 3-point shooting. Navy had 28 field goals in the contest, compared to just 22 by the visitors. In contrast to Lehigh getting its scoring from beyond the arc, Navy held a 36-12 edge in points in the paint.

Kelly scored in double figures for the sixth straight game and is now averaging double-digit scoring (10.0) for the first time this season.

Navy is 13-3 in games played ahead from home this season, but just 5-7 at Alumni Hall.

"We need to mature and grow as a team and figure out what we need to do to win at home, but it has to start on the defensive side," said Anderson. "We didn't get the job done and now we need to move on to the next game."

Bucknell is in first place in the Patriot League at 11-4 and is followed by Lehigh and Boston University at 10-5. Navy is in sole possession of fourth place at 9-6 and is one game ahead of fifth-place Colgate (8-7).

Navy will next host Army West Point (16-11, 7-8 PL) on Saturday at 1:30 PM. Navy defeated Army West Point in the 2016 Star Game at Army on Feb. 1, 64-50, and has won five straight games in the series.