ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– A 19-0 run in the early stages of the second half allowed the Navy (1-2) men's basketball team to pull away from Coppin State (0-3) and earn a 77-58 victory Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.
 
"Saw some growth in our team, growth in the second half," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "I was proud of them.  After the two teams we played (Old Dominion and Maryland), it was good to walk into the locker room and feel good about their efforts, especially the second half."
 
The Mids led for the majority of the first half, but never by any amount of comfort.  Navy went into the locker room holding a 34-32 lead when Josiah Strong (Fr., Brooklyn Park, Minn.) drained a baseline triple just before the horn sounded to end the first 20 minutes of the game.  Coppin State then scored on its second possession of the second half to tie the score at 34-34.
 
John Carter Jr. (Fr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) answered 15 seconds later with a triple to break the tie and start what would be the 19-0 spurt by the Mids.  Carter followed with a pair of made free throws on Navy's next trip down the court, then Hasan Abdullah (Sr., Birmingham, Ala.) made a jumper to push the lead with 41-34 a little more than three minutes into the second half.
 
Neither team scored for one minute of clock time, with Cam Davis (So., Battlefield, Mo.) connecting on a jumper on the ensuing Navy possession.  After Evan Wieck (Jr., Amarillo, Texas) snared a defensive rebound on one end of the court, he scored on a short jumper on the other end to make the score 45-34 with just over 16 minutes remaining.  A Coppin State turnover after the media stoppage was followed by a basket and foul shot by Wieck.  George Kiernan (Sr., Hinsdale, Ill.) scored the next five points for Navy on a layup and triple over the next two possessions to cap the run and give the Mids a 53-34 lead with 14 minutes still to play.
 
"I'm really proud of our team," said DeChellis.  "I thought our second half was tremendous.  We had a two-point game, they tied us, and then were got it to 20 in about eight minutes.  I thought we just shared the ball, we made baskets.  Defensively, we always try to get three stops in a row and today we had more than that." 
 
"Two teams going in 0-2, and we really wanted to come out 1-2," said Kiernan.  "We needed to play hard, we needed to play tough.  That's what you saw in the Maryland game, that's what you saw against Old Dominion.  Today we were able to make some shots."
 
Navy's lead would grow to as many as 22 points and never dipped below 16 points.
 
Navy connected on 50 percent of its second half shots (14-28) and held Coppin State to 31 percent shooting (10-32) after intermission.  The Mids were also 12-16 (75%) from the free throw line in the second half while the Eagles were 3-5 (60%).  This was in contrast to the first half when Coppin State was 8-10 from the charity stripe and Navy was 3-3.
 
Navy ended the game with a 41-37 edge on the glass and, despite holding just a 13-11 advantage in offensive rebounds, posted a 22-9 lead in second chance points.
 
"Defensively, they (Coppin State) have guys who can score, but I thought we did a good job on the glass and trying to contain a lot of their drivers," said Kiernan.
 
Kiernan scored 21 points to notch the third 20-point game of his career and fell one rebound short of a double-double.  Also having a strong game was Wieck with a career-high tying 14 points on 5-7 shooting from the floor and a 4-4 effort from the foul line, five rebounds and a career-best five assists. 
 
"I thought George broke out," said DeChellis.  "He was in the gym a lot today shooting the basketball.  Offensively, he took one goofy shot in the second half.  Other than that, I thought he took really good shots.  He drove the ball a couple of times and got fouled.  That's George.  It is the first time in three games we have seen it.  He can make open shots, put it on the floor a little bit, hit jump shots and get fouled.  He rebounded the ball very well tonight.
 
"Evan, had maybe his best game ever.  He is really strong inside, against this team anyway.  He just scored with the ball.  He has worked really hard.  He is a strong kid.  Our game plan tonight was to take it at them early and work it inside and out.  Happy for him; he is a really hard-working kid, a hard-working guy, a great glue guy, really easy to coach, he just comes to work every day, doesn't care if he scores, just likes to rebound and knock people around.  He's pretty good at that."
 
Joining that duo in scoring in double figures were Carter with Davis who each scored 10 points.
 
"All of those guys just pitched in," said DeChellis.  John Carter had a nice day, Cam had a nice day, Hasan had a nice day taking care of the ball."
 
Navy will close its season-long three-game homestand Sunday when it plays host to Bryant at 2 p.m.