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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Patriot League Regular Season Champion Bucknell Bison (17-12, 14-4) defeated host Navy (18-13, 9-9), 77-73, on Navy's Senior Day at Alumni Hall on Saturday afternoon in the final game of the conference season.

Navy finishes the Patriot League regular season in a four-way tie for fourth place at 9-9 with Army West Point, Colgate and American. Due to tiebreakers, Navy will be the No. 7 seed for the Patriot League Tournament and will host No. 10 Lafayette on Tuesday at Alumni Hall at 7:00 PM.

Navy's fourth-place finish is its best since tying for fourth place in 2011. Navy's nine Patriot League wins this season are its most since going 10-4 in league play in 2010.

Junior Zach Fong poured in a season-high 17 points off the bench and knocked down five 3-pointers for the Mids on Saturday.

Fong's fifth 3-pointer cut Bucknell's lead to 73-71 with 1:22 left in the contest. Navy fouled Nana Foulland who made two free throws and then Will Kelly answered on the other end with a layup. Navy forced a defensive stop and then gained possession with 18 seconds left in the game. As Navy was trying to set up a game-tying or game-winning shot, Stephen Brown stole the ball from Shawn Anderson and then Brown made a pair of free throws with five seconds left for the 77-73 win and outright league championship.

The teams had large momentum swings in the first half as Navy sophomore Tom Lacey had a dunk and drew two offensive charges in the early going as the Mids went ahead 6-4 before an 11-0 run by Bucknell put the visitors ahead, 15-6. Kelly snapped the run by converting a three-point play. Navy continued to chip away at the lead as Fong drilled a deep 3-pointer.

Navy used a 9-0 spurt to take a 27-24 lead over Bucknell. A steal by Tilman Dunbar led to a fastbreak layup by Anderson and then Dunbar hit a 3-pointer. Jace Hogan hit a short jumper and then made two free throws before Bucknell's John Azzinaro and Nate Jones hit back-to-back 3-pointers to retake the lead and eventually take a 34-33 lead into halftime.

Dunbar scored five straight points on a 3-pointer and then a layup to cut Bucknell's lead to 42-41 early in the second half, but the Bison then made three straight 3-pointers by Chris Hass, Dom Hoffman and D.J. Macleay to eventually open up a 10-point lead at 53-43.

Navy rallied right back with an 8-0 run as Kelly put down a dunk, Navy got three free throws on one possession, Hogan hit a jumper and then Fong's 3-pointer cut the margin to two at 53-51 with 10:59 left.

Bucknell opened the lead back up to eight points before another triple by Fong. Bucknell's Ryan Frazier answered with a 3-pointer and then on Navy's next possession Fong drilled another 3-ball.

Navy cut the margin to three points on a jumper by Anderson and then cut it down to three again after two free throws by Kelly with 5:44 left. Hass then hit a big 3-pointer with 3:07 left to give Bucknell a seven-point lead. Four straight free throws from Fong and Kelly kept Navy close and then Fong's fifth 3-pointer at 1:22 cut the deficit to two, before Bucknell made the game-winning plays to close out the contest.

"We fought hard," said Kelly. "We dug ourselves a hole a couple of times, but we fought back from it. We gave everything we had. We just have to move forward and get ready for Tuesday."

Kelly scored 14 points with nine rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Hogan scored 13 points with four rebounds and Anderson had 12 points and five assists.

Dunbar tallied 12 points with seven assists and four rebounds. With his seven assists, Dunbar passed Mickey Hampton ('75) to move into sixth place on Navy's all-time list with 423 career assists.

Navy had five players scored in double figures for the fourth time this season.

Hass led Bucknell with 13 points and Foulland tallied 12 points and seven rebounds.

Navy was 7-of-17 on 3-pointers (41 percent) and Bucknell was 10-of-19 (53 percent).

Bucknell won a second straight regular season championship.

Navy lost its fourth straight game overall and its sixth straight home game.

Navy's three seniors, Dunbar, Kelly and Kendall Knorr, were recognized in a pregame ceremony on Saturday.

Navy and Lafayette will be meeting in the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since the 2000 championship game when Lafayette earned an 87-61 win.

"I think our kids played really hard and were really competitive today," said head coach Ed DeChellis. "We got a big one Tuesday night. Everybody is 0-0, if you lose you go home and if you win you get to play again."

Tickets for the Patriot League First Round can be purchased online by clicking here. Tickets are $12 for Adults and $6 for Youth/Seniors.