ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Lipscomb (2-4) made six three-point field goals and shot 50 percent from the field in the second half to hold off the Navy (2-3) men's basketball team, 65-61, Friday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.
 
"I thought we played our worst game of the year," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "That's not any disrespect to Lipscomb; I just don't think we guarded anyone well.  When a team shoots 49 percent from the floor and 48 percent from three (point range), you didn't guard anyone."
 
Navy edged its way out to a five-point lead late in the first half.  Cam Davis (Jr., Battlefield, Mo.) accounted for 10 first-half points to boost the Mids to a 22-17 lead with 4:31 left before halftime.  Lipscomb would score the ensuing 12 points before a late Navy basket made the score 29-26 in favor of the Bisons at the break.
 
Lipscomb connected on 48 percent (12-25) of its shots from the field in the first half and limited Navy to 31.8 percent (7-22) shooting.  Free throws kept the Mids in the game as they were 9-10 from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes and the Bisons were 1-2 from the foul line.
 
Navy began the second half on a 14-7 run to take a 40-37 advantage at the 14-minute mark of the second half.  Keying the surge was John Carter Jr. (So., Spring Hill, Tenn.) as he made two of his four second-half three-point field goals in the opening minutes of the second stanza. 
 
The lead then changed hands twice, which placed the Mids in back front, 46-44, with 10:54 left following the fourth triple by Carter. 
 
Lipscomb promptly scored 11 points on its next four possessions to build a 55-46 lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.  K.J. Johnson accounted for eight of those points on a layup and a pair of three-point baskets.
 
The lead for the Bisons would grow to as many as 10 points at 62-52 with 3:47 remaining.  The Mids went on a 7-0 run over a span of three possessions and winnowed the margin down to 64-61 on a triple by Davis with 1:23 showing on the clock.
 
Lipscomb missed a field goal attempt on its next trip down the court.  Navy would miss both a jumper and a three-point attempt on its ensuing possession that ended with a foul with 33 seconds left to play.  Forced to foul again, the Mids placed Carson Cary on the foul line and he made one of two attempts with 29 seconds still to play.
 
Navy would miss a jumper with 15 seconds left, then, after a foul by the Mids and a missed free throw by the Bisons, Navy missed a pair of three-point attempts over the last 10 seconds of the game.
 
"They (Lipscomb) get up 10 because we don't guard the way we need to, then we come storming back," said DeChellis.  "We have a couple of shots to tie and they don't go in.  But it is all of the plays that led up to that.
 
"Credit them; they made the shots, we didn't run them off the (three-point) line, we didn't do the things we needed to do."
 
Lipscomb continued its hot shooting in the second half as it connected on 50 percent (14-28) of its shots from the floor to end the game with an overall mark of 49.1 percent.  Navy improved its shooting after halftime to 13-34 (38.2%) to end the contest with a 35.7 percent effort.
 
Lipscomb was 4-38 from three-point land over its last two games, but made 10-21 three-point attempts this evening including a 6-10 effort in the second half.  In contrast, the Mids were 8-24 from long range on the night.
 
Navy did hold a 40-27 advantage on the glass, which included a 16-6 edge in offense rebounds.  That resulted in the Mids having an 11-2 cushion in second chance points. 
 
The Bisons held advantages over the Mids of 26-16 in points scored in the paint and 19-5 in bench points.  Lipscomb also forced Navy into 13 turnovers and committed 10 of its own.  Both teams scored 11 points off of the other's turnovers.
 
"I thought we rebounded the ball very well.," said DeChellis.  "We just didn't get points off of them.  Turnovers are killing us at difficult times.
 
"They had six blocked shots; you take our 13 turnovers and their six blocks and that's 19 times we didn't get the ball on the rim.  That's a lot."
 
Carter ended the game with 16 points, Davis contributed 15 points and four assists and Greg Summers (So., Ocoee, Fla.) recorded 12 points and nine rebounds.
 
Johnson's 18 points led all players.  His teammate, Ahsan Asadullah, notched a double-double of 12 points and 13 boards and also totaled three assists, three blocks and two steals.
 
Navy will be back home Tuesday night when it plays host to Cornell.