WASHINGTON, D.C. – American (8-6, 2-1 Patriot League) scored on nine of its last 10 possessions of the game to hold off the Navy (5-9, 2-1) men's basketball team, 71-63, Wednesday night at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C. 
 
American held Navy without a made field goal for almost six minutes during an 11-2 first-half run that gave them a 17-10 lead.  The Mids were able to slice the deficit down to as few as two points at 18-16, but went into the locker room at halftime trailing 32-26.
 
Neither team shot the ball well from three-point range in the first half, but American was slightly better as it was 2-8 from long range and Navy was 0-9.  Overall, the Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor and the Mids made 36.7 percent of their first half field goal attempts.
 
The Mids did a good job on the glass as they held a 19-12 overall advantage in the first half, including a 10-3 edge in offensive boards.  That effort allowed Navy to hold an 8-4 lead ion second chance points scored through 20 minutes of play.  However, the Mids turned the ball over twice as many times as the Eagles, 10-5, in the first half.
 
"We didn't do some basic things in the first half that we talked about going into the game, and that was transition defense," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "I thought we gave them some easy baskets with our transition defense in the first half." 
 
American opened the second half on a 9-2 run to take a 41-28 advantage four minutes into the stanza.  Navy responded with a 13-2 run of its own to close to within two points at 43-41, then tied the game at 45 on a pair of Greg Summers (Fr., Ocoee, Fla.) free throws with 9:22 left to play.
 
The teams exchanged baskets (47-47), then the Mids had a possession to take the lead but a turnover gave the ball back to the Eagles with 7:51 still to play.  The teams again traded baskets (49-49, 6:59 left), with American soon taking a 51-49 lead on its next opportunity with the ball. 
 
Navy missed shots on each of its next three possessions, then the Eagles scored again to take a 53-49 lead with 3:49 showing on the clock.  Hasan Abdullah (Sr., Birmingham, Ala.) scored for the Mids to cut the lead in half (53-51, 3:37 left), then Larry Motuzis made a three-point shot for the Eagles to push their lead out to five points at 56-51 with 3:10 still to play.
 
The margin hovered between four and eight points over the remainder of the contest.
 
"In the second half we really competed and played hard," said DeChellis.  "We got ourselves down, then got it tied.  The last three or four minutes, they made a shot or two; we didn't make them.  That was the difference in the game." 
 
The Eagles shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the second half to end the game with an overall mark of 51 percent.  American also was 16-19 (84.2%) from the free throw line in the game, which included a 10-11 (90.9%) effort in the second half. 
 
Navy shot 50 percent from the field after halftime to post an overall mark of 43.3 percent.  The Mids were 9-14 (64.3%) from the charity stripe in the game, which featured a 5-10 (50%) mark after halftime.
 
The Mids outrebounded the Eagles, 33-30, and ended the night with a 14-6 advantage in second chance points. 
 
American also held an 8-3 advantage in blocks and forced 15 turnovers while committing 12 turnovers.
 
"We outrebounded them, we turned it over 15 times, but more importantly they had eight blocked shots," said DeChellis.  "That really hurt us.  That's 23 times you don't get the shot on the rim or have the chance to rebound the ball."
 
Evan Wieck (Jr., Amarillo, Texas) was 8-9 from the floor in scoring a career-high 16 points and also grabbed seven rebounds.  George Kiernan (Sr., Hinsdale, Ill.) scored 13 of his team-high 17 points in the second half and added 11 rebounds to notch his second double-double of the season.  Both players snared five offensive boards.
 
"Evan did very, very well," said DeChellis.  "We tried to do some different things offensively in the last 10 days to get us more ball movement and inside-outside action.  I thought we were pretty successful at that.  Offensively, I thought Evan had one of his better games.  He took it right at them, which is really important."
 
American was led in scoring by Sa'need Nelson, who totaled 25 points thanks in part to sinking 11-12 free throw attempts.  He also dished out four assists and swiped two steals in playing the entire game.
 
"Nelson is a dynamic player," said DeChellis. "He is really hard to guard.  We had a challenge guarding him."
 
Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Saturday when it plays host to Boston U. at 2 p.m.