ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Seniors George Kiernan (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Hasan Abdullah (Birmingham, Ala.) each made four three-point field goals and combined for 38 points in a 72-66 victory by the Navy (4-8, 1-0) men's basketball team over Colgate (8-6, 0-1) Thursday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.  The game served as the Patriot League opener for both programs.
 
"I'm really proud of our two seniors, George and Hasan, who played a lot of minutes tonight," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. "Both played very well, and not just offensively.  They rebounded and Hasan did a good job of taking care of the ball and getting us into our offense.  George made shots and rebounded.
 
"I'm really happy for our kids.  I thought we played good basketball tonight."
 
"That's what he (DeChellis) expects, and that's the role of a senior," said Abdullah and his and Kiernan's efforts tonight.
 
Kiernan was the catalyst for a great first half by the Mids.  He began the game 6-6 from the floor, which included a 3-3 effort from three-point range.  He started and ended a 9-0 Navy run with baskets that gave the Mids a 14-6 advantage a little more than five minutes into the game.  Navy eventually built a 30-18 lead only to see Colgate whittle the margin down to five points at 30-25.  The Mids responded by scoring the final seven points of the first half to take a 37-25 lead into the locker room.
 
Navy shot 51.7 percent from the field in the first half, with Kiernan alone going 6-7 from the floor and scoring 15 points.  Key to Navy taking the 12-point lead was the Mids tying the Raiders with five second chance points in the frame despite Colgate holding an 11-5 advantage in offensive boards. 
 
Navy held Colgate to 29 percent shooting in the first half, which included the Raiders missing all 15 of their three-point attempts.
 
Fortunes changed at intermission as Colgate scored on six of its first seven possessions of the second half to begin the stanza on a 14-0 and 19-2 run to take leads of 39-37 and 44-39.  The Raiders were 5-6 from beyond the arc during that spurt.
 
The score soon became 46-41 in favor of the Raiders when Abdullah drilled three-point field goals on each of the ensuing three Navy trips down the court to put the Mids back in front, 50-49, with just under 12 minutes still to play.
 
"We responded," said DeChellis.  "That's the game.  It is college basketball; guys are going to make shots and go on runs.  I'm not happy with what happened (at the start of the second half), but the important thing for our team was we responded and were able to make a shot and stop the run they made and then go on a run of our own.
 
"He (Abdullah) was open.  We have watched a lot of tape in the last 48 hours.  He was taking, I thought, tough shots.  I think he was taking contested shots.  We really worked hard on him the last two days taking open shots.  I thought the shots he took were step-in threes, and that's the shot we want him to take."
 
The score was tied at 52 when Colgate took leads of 57-52 and 59-54, with the latter advantage coming with a little more than eight minutes remaining.
 
A layup by Greg Summers (Fr., Ocoee, Fla.) was followed by a Colgate missed shot that was snared by Kiernan.  Luke Loehr (So., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) then scored on a jumper on the other end to pull the Mids to within one point at 59-58.  Summers grabbed a defensive carom on Colgate's next possession, then Kiernan tied his career high by sinking his fourth three-point field goal of the game to put Navy in front, 61-59.  Summers again gathered in a defensive board, with Abdullah continuing the Navy surge by making his fourth triple of the second half that made the score 64-59 in favor of the Mids with 5:33 remaining.
 
Neither team scored over the next two minutes, then Colgate's Jordan Burns made a layup to make it a three-point game (66-61) with 2:37 left on the clock.  Summers returned the advantage to five points when he quickly scored on a layup of his own 24 seconds later.
 
Defense dominated the next 90 seconds until Abdullah was fouled with 41 seconds remaining.  He made both bonus free throw opportunities to make the score 68-61.  Colgate promptly made two free throws of its own with 23 seconds left (68-63).  Now forced to foul, the Raiders sent Summers back to the line with 20.9 seconds left.  He made both attempts to push the advantage out to 70-63.  Colgate's Tucker Richardson drained a triple with 4.2 seconds remaining, then the Raiders sent Summers back to the charity stripe with 2.9 seconds still to play.  He made both foul shots to account for the final points of the evening.
 
"This was a real big gut check for us," said Kiernan.  "We were in a similar scenario at Cornell last week.  This time we were able to make a different outcome."
 
Both teams shot 44 percent from the field in the second half, which led to Navy shooting 48 percent for the game and Colgate connecting on 37 percent of its shots for the full 40 minutes.  Both teams also made nine three-point field goals, with the Mids taking 20 long-range attempts (45%) and the Raiders 34 (26.5%).
 
Kiernan totaled 20 points and seven boards and Abdullah posted a statistical line of 18 points –– 14 in the second half –– four assists, three steals and zero turnovers.  Abdullah was 4-4 from three-point range, with all of his three-point attempts coming in the second half, and was 6-7 from the floor in all.
 
"Hasan and I have been working in the gym all break," said Kiernan.  "Just being able to find better rhythm shots, better shots, made the basket that much bigger."
 
Cam Davis (So., Battlefield, Mo.) saw his streak of consecutive games scoring in double figures end at 10 in a row, but he still tallied nine points, a career-high six assists, four rebounds, one steal and just one turnover. 
 
Summers entered tonight with 12 points all season, but he totaled 11 points against the Raiders in a career-best 23 minutes of court time.  He also added a career-high six caroms.  He and Loehr –– eight points –– helped the Mids hold a 21-10 advantage in bench scoring.
 
"I thought Greg and Luke, off the bench, did a great job," said DeChellis.  "We received good bench play.
 
"Greg came in and did a great job for us.  Not only scoring the ball, but he rebounds and has some defensive intensity to him."
 
Colgate had four players score in double figures, with Burns leading the way with both 14 points and eight assists.
 
Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Sunday at 1 p.m. when the Mids play host to Holy Cross.  The Navy women's team will play host to Lehigh immediately following the conclusion of the men's game.