ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Hasan Abdullah (Sr., Birmingham, Ala.) and George Kiernan (Sr., Hinsdale, Ill.) combined for 40 points in a 77-67 victory by the Navy (8-14, 5-6 Patriot League) men's basketball team over American (12-10, 6-5), Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.
 
The Mids have now won back-to-back games and with tonight's results throughout the Patriot League move into sole possession of sixth place in the 10-team standings.  Navy also sits one win behind the third-place trio of Colgate, American and Army.
 
"Really happy for the guys," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "We have won a couple of games in a row now and we feel a little bit better about ourselves.
 
"It was a fun game to watch on both ends.  A really well-played game."
 
Navy held a slim lead for the majority of the first half that ended with the Mids in front, 33-27.  American quickly chipped away at the deficit at the start of the second half and tied the score at 40, then took a 49-48 lead with 12:30 still to play.  That would be the first of six lead changes over the next four minutes. 
 
Included during that sequence was American's Sa'eed Nelson scoring on a dunk to give the Eagles a 55-54 lead, but also being whistled for a technical foul on the play due to his hanging on the rim too long.  Kiernan walked to the other end of the floor and made the free throw to tie the game, then drilled a three-point field goal on the ensuing possession to make the score 58-55 with 8:57 remaining.  The Eagles turned the ball over their next trip down the court, then Kiernan immediately scored on a jumper to push the margin out to five points with 8:30 left on the clock.
 
Nelson continued to take over the offensive burden on the American side of the court and soon pulled the visitors to within one point at 66-65 with four minutes remaining.  Equal to the task was Abdullah as a few seconds later he lofted in a layup to extend the margin out to three points.  Neither team scored over the next 80 seconds (two empty possessions for the Eagles sandwiched around one for the Mids), then Abdullah scored on another layup to make the score 70-65 with 2:27 still to play.
 
Nelson would score again for the Eagles, then Abdullah answered for Navy 20 seconds later to place the margin back to five points –– 72-67 –– with 1:17 showing on the clock.  John Carter Jr. (Fr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) recorded a steal of Nelson, then classmate Greg Summers (Fr., Ocoee, Fla.) was immediately fouled with 51.9 seconds remaining.  He made both foul shots to increase the advantage to 74-67.  A traveling call ended the next American possession without the Eagles being able to attempt a shot.  After the ball was inbounded, Carter was fouled and his two free throws with 35.2 seconds remaining made the score 76-67.
 
American made 28 field goals to Navy's 27, but the Mids held a 9-4 advantage in three-point field goals made and were 14-20 from the foul line in contrast to the 7-14 effort from the charity stripe by the Eagles.
 
Key to the Navy victory was the Mids turning the ball over just nine times and forcing American into 14 turnovers.  Also, Navy's reserves outscored their American counterparts, 20-8.
 
"Offensively," said DeChellis, "we probably did the best job of taking care of the ball in awhile. We only had nine turnovers, which is really important because this team (American) possesses the ball and makes you guard-guard-guard."
 
Leading the Navy bench players was Luke Loehr (So., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.), who played 22 minutes due to Evan Wieck (Jr., Amarillo, Texas) being in foul trouble from the early moments of the game and totaling just 14 minutes of playing time.  Loehr had a production of nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
 
"We received some really good contributions off the bench," said DeChellis.  "Greg did some good things, Luke did some good things, Josiah Strong (Fr., Brooklyn Park, Md.) did some good things.  We had some good production off the bench."
 
Abdullah made 6-9 field goal attempts in the second half and ended the game with a career-high 23 points.  He also contributed six rebounds, six assists and three steals to either lead Navy or share the team lead in each of the four statistical categories.  Kiernan made four three-point field goals on his way to scoring 17 points.
 
"Hasan and George both played well on the same night," said DeChellis.  "We haven't had that for awhile.  Might have been Hasan's best game.  He took care of the ball.  He really only had two turnovers.  He made some really nice plays."
 
Nelson had another strong game against Navy as he tallied 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
 
"You saw two really dynamic point guards (Abdullah and Nelson) battling tonight," said DeChellis.  "They went after each other and Hasan was right there and did a great job."
 
The Mids will head back out on the road Saturday for a mid-afternoon contest at Lehigh.