ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's basketball team (2-4) dropped a 76-58 decision to Liberty (6-1) on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md. The Mids pulled to within nine late in the game, but the Flames responded with a 7-0 run to put the game out of reach.
 
"They are a very good basketball team," head coach Ed DeChellis said after the game. "They have good players and they do good things with the ball. Offensively, we can't shoot 16-percent from three against a team that shoots threes. We have to push them off the line and not let them shoot threes and try to beat us inside the arc, but we didn't do that. We didn't follow the game plan and attention to detail. I didn't think we were very good defensively. We didn't have a very good game tonight and I have to figure that out and get ready for Saturday."
 
Navy finished the game 23-for-55 (41.8 percent) from the field, but just 4-for-24 (16.7) from behind the arc. Liberty was 26-for-53 (49.1) from the floor, including 9-for-24 (37.5) from three. The Flames made more free throws (15) than the Midshipmen attempted (13) on the night. In addition, the Mids were hampered by 11 turnovers that lead to 10 points for the visitors.
 
The Midshipmen were led by their underclassmen as 37 of Navy's 58 points came from freshmen or sophomores. Sophomores Cam Davis (Battlefield, Mo.) and Danny Ogele (Chicago, Ill.) paced the offensive attack finishing with 13 and 12, respectively. For Davis, it was his fifth consecutive double-digit scoring effort of the season, while it Ogele's second double-figure scoring effort of the year. Senior Hasan Abdullah (Birmingham, Ala.) scored nine of the upperclassmen's 21 points.
 
Ogele and sophomore Luke Loehr (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) paced the team with six rebounds apiece, while Abdullah led the way with five assists.
 
For the Flames, Darius McGhee led a group of four players with double digits, netting 18 points. The freshman connected on five of Liberty's nine three pointers.
 
In the first half, the two teams played even early, trading baskets. Navy and Liberty were tied 9-9 before Isaiah Burnett (Annapolis, Md.) broke the tie to put the Mids up two. The Flames responded with a 6-0 run over to go up 15-11. Evan Wieck (Amarillo, Texas) ended the run with a hard-fought layup. Wieck kept the margin two, 17-15, with his second basket of the game.
 
After a Liberty field goal, George Kiernan (Hinsdale, Ill.) drained a three to cut the deficit to one. The triple snapped an 0-for-6 start for Navy from behind the arc. The Flames answered with back-to-back three pointers by McGhee to extend the advantage to 25-18 with under five minutes to play in the half.
 
Navy used baskets by Davis and Ogele to trim the deficit to four on two occasions, but Liberty took advantage of a 2-minutes scoring drought by Navy to end the half on an 8-0 run to lead 35-23 at intermission.
 
In the second half, the Midshipmen closed the gap to nine points, 61-52, with 5:02 remaining. The Flames responded with a 7-0 run to push the advantage to 16 with 3:16 on the clock. The Midshipmen were unable to close the gap to less than 14 in the final three minutes, ultimately falling by 18.
 
Navy returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 1, as the Midshipmen host Brown in a home game at 4:00 p.m. at Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The game will be live streamed on the Patriot League Network and live stats will be available.