Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The American men's basketball team (10-18, 8-9 PL) used a 17-0 second-half run to rally for a 72-65 win over Navy (18-12, 9-8 PL) on Wednesday evening at Bender Arena. Navy gave away a 14-point lead in the game, just days after giving up a 13-point lead in a loss to Army West Point on Saturday.

"It's the same stuff that we did against Army," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. "We are finding ways to not play consistent basketball in the last seven minutes of the game. We started playing too fast offensively and started taking hurried shots. We also missed a lot of layups and we didn't make any perimeter shots. We lose the game because we don't make our free throws."

Navy shot just nine percent (1-of-11) on its 3-pointers and was just 48 percent (12-of-25) from the free throw line.

Navy's Will Kelly scored a career-best 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting and also had four rebounds. Kelly blocked two shots to move past Sitapha Savane into sole possession of second place at Navy for career blocks with 190 and he trails only David Robinson (516) on the school's all-time list. Kelly scored in double-figures for the eighth straight game.

Navy led American 60-52 after a Jace Hogan jumper with 7:12 left in the second half. However, American then went on a 17-0 run over the next six minutes to take a 69-60 lead. Navy came up empty on eight-straight possessions during the run, which featured nine points from American's Jesse Reed.

Navy's Shawn Anderson made a layup with 40 seconds left to cut the deficit to five points at 69-64, but the Mids could get no closer as American knocked down enough of its free throws to seal the win. Anderson's layup was Navy's first field goal since Hogan's jumper at the 7:12 mark.

The Mids had a great start to the evening as they pulled ahead 24-11 and prompted an American timeout with 6:38 left in the first half. Kelly scored 10 early points and then quick scores from Tilman Dunbar and Anderson led to the early timeout.

After Navy went ahead 29-20 on a jumper by junior Tim Abruzzo, American responded with an 8-0 run to cut Navy's once sizable margin to one point. The Mids would carry a 32-29 lead into the break.

Kelly opened the second half with a dunk on Navy's first possession and Navy's lead grew as Edward Alade scored on a tip-in, Hogan made a layup and Abruzzo hit a 3-pointer.

Alade scored inside again to give Navy's its biggest lead of the game at 14 points (47-33) with 14:49 left in the second half. American then chipped away at the lead until its 17-0 run turned the tide.

Navy held a 44-22 edge in points in the paint in the game, but American made up for the difference by making eight more 3-pointers than Navy.

Dunbar finished with 12 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals, while Anderson tallied 11 points, four rebounds and two assists. Hogan came oftt the bench to post 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Reed led American with 21 points and six rebounds and Delante Jones scored 20 points. Jalen Rhea added 10 points and Charlie Jones pulled down nine rebounds.

Navy lost its third straight game and also dropped its ninth straight game at Bender Arena.

With one game remaining in the regular season, Navy sits in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Patriot League at 9-8 with Colgate and Army.

Navy will host first-place Bucknell (13-4) on Saturday at 4:00 PM on Senior Day.