WASHINGTON, D.C. – Evan Wieck (Jr., Amarillo, Texas) scored 18 points on 7-10 shooting to help the Navy (12-18) men's basketball team answer every charge made at them by American (15-15) in a 60-56 victory by the Mids over the Eagles Thursday night at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C., in a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal round game.
 
The victory by the fifth-seeded Mids over the fourth-seeded Eagles advances Navy to the semifinal round of the tournament.  Navy will play top-seeded Colgate Sunday in Hamilton, N.Y., in a game that will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.
 
The result was Navy's first win in a quarterfinal round game played away from Annapolis since 1995.  The Mids also advanced to the semifinal round for the second time in three seasons.
 
"Really proud of our guys," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis, who won the 100^th game of his eight-year career in Annapolis tonight.  "We have played here well lately, the last three games.  I think our defense has been pretty good.  We have just scored enough points here and there with mixing and matching."
 
Navy slowly edged its way out to an 18-11 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.  American chipped away at the deficit and soon the Mids led by just one, 22-21.  Navy held American without a made field goal the rest of the half and went into the locker room holding a 27-23 lead.
 
The Mids shot 47.6 percent from the field in the first half and limited the Eagles to 27.6 percent shooting.  That included a 3-16 effort from three-point land in the first half for American.
 
"We watched the tape from the first two games and they (American) made so many layups, backdoor layups," said DeChellis.  "I emphasized to the kids we have to make them score over us.  If they make three's, then they are going to beat us.  But we wanted them to shoot the ball from the perimeter and not make a backcut layup."
 
Navy was able to extend its lead out to nine points at 38-29 before American cut it down to 38-34.  It was back to eight points at 42-34, then cut right back down to four at 42-38.  Neither team had much success over the next five minutes, bit the Mids were able to extend the margin back to seven points at 45-38 with 7:25 showing on the clock.
 
American would slice the difference down to 45-43, but back-to-back baskets by the Mids made the score 49-43 with five minutes left.  Once again the Eagles made a charge at the Mids and the score was 49-47 following a pair of free throws by Sa'eed Nelson with 3:20 left on the clock.
 
George Kiernan (Sr., Hinsdale, Ill.) missed the last two days of practice due to being sick, but he made two of the biggest plays of the game on the next Navy and then American possessions.  Ten seconds after Nelson made it a two-point game, Kiernan drilled a three-point basket to push the lead out to 52-47.  He then ended American's ensuing opportunity with the ball on a steal, and that strip led to Hasan Abdullah (Sr., Birmingham, Ala.) scoring on a layup in Navy's halfcourt offense to make the score 54-47 with 2:20 remaining.
 
"We just hang around, and someone makes a big shot for us," said DeChellis.  "The next thing you know, we had a little lead."
 
The Mids made their next six free throws to never let their lead dip below five points until a basket by the Eagles just before the game clock expired.
 
Navy shot 50 percent from the field for the game, including a 52.4-percent effort in the second half.  American was limited to 34.4 percent shooting for the evening and ended with a 7-35 (20%) showing from three-point range.  In contrast, the Mids were 3-11 from three-point land.  Navy also was 15-21 from the free throw line to American's 7-10 night.
 
"Evan Wieck was outstanding," said DeChellis.  "We needed someone to be really good tonight and he was a big part of our offense.
 
"I thought our kids played hard and competed hard."
 
Navy turned the ball over 16 times to American's eight and held just a 34-32 edge on the glass.
 
Nelson led all players with 29 points. 
 
In addition to Wieck's 18 points, John Carter Jr. (Fr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) scored nine points, Kiernan had eight points and nine rebounds, and Cam Davis (So., Battlefield, Mo.) added seven points.
 
Thursday's Quarterfinal Round Results
#5 Navy 60, #4 American 56
#1 Colgate 81, #8 Boston U. 69
#3 Lehigh 75, #6 Army 70
#2 Bucknell 77, #10 Holy Cross 65
 
Sunday's Semifinal Round Schedule
Navy at Colgate – noon
Lehigh at Bucknell – 2 p.m.