ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Colgate (13-4, 4-0) made veteran plays down the stretch to fend off a challenge from the youthful Navy (8-7, 2-2) men's basketball team, 70-63, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.
 
"As I told the kids," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis, "we played really hard and we competed, but we didn't play well enough to win."
 
Whereas the Raiders started the game with four starters back from last year's team that won the Patriot League regular season and tournament, all four of whom had received postseason recognition of some sort from the league at some point in their respective careers, the starting five for the Mids consisted of two juniors, two sophomores and one freshman, only two of whom had started a game prior to this season.
 
Colgate has now won seven games in a row, 12 of its last 13 games and, dating back to last year, 12-straight league regular season games.
 
The Raiders quickly ran off the opening 10 points of the game and eventually held a 17-8 lead.  The Mids answered with a 13-0 run to take a 21-17 lead with just over five minutes still to play before halftime.  The lead would change hands twice more before Navy went into the locker room holding a 28-27 lead.
 
Two lead changes early in the second half resulted in Navy taking a 32-29 advantage.  Colgate regained a 36-32 lead before three free throws from Cam Davis (Jr., Battlefield, Mo.) trimmed the margin down to one point at 36-33.  The Raiders responded with a 13-6 run to match their largest lead of the game at 49-39 with 11:11 left on the clock.
 
Navy soon found a rhythm from long range and connected on 5-7 three-point attempts over the next five minutes and took a 56-55 lead on a triple from Greg Summers (So., Ocoee, Fla.) with 6:27 remaining.  Colgate answered by scoring eight points over its next three possessions to regain a 63-58 lead with just under five minutes left to play.
 
Navy had another run in it as a Tyler Nelson (Fr., Monroe, N.C.) three-point basket made the score 63-61, but a jumper made by 2019 Patriot League Player of the Year and Northwestern transfer Rapolas Ivanauskas on the other end pushed the margin back to four points.
 
On the next Navy possession, Richard Njoku (So., Washington, D.C.) soared high above the rim for an offensive rebound, which he scored on while being fouled to make the score 65-63 with 2:17 remaining.  He would miss the free throw attempt to keep the teams separated by two points.  Colgate missed its lone shot on its ensuing possession, then John Carter Jr. (So., Spring Hill, Tenn.) missed a good look at a three-point shot on the next Navy trip down the court with just under 100 seconds remaining.  Colgate's Will Rayman was fouled a few seconds later and he made both attempts to stretch the lead back to four points at 67-63.
 
Carter would be fouled on the next offensive chance for the Mids with 1:04 remaining.  He missed both attempts and Rayman snared the loose ball after his second misfire.  The Raiders ran some clock before missing a three-point shot.  However, Ivanauskas grabbed the offensive board and kicked the ball out to run off some additional seconds.  Navy eventually fouled 2019 Patriot League Rookie of the Year Tucker Richardson with 24.6 seconds remaining.  He made both shots to make the score 69-63.  Davis would miss a three-point attempt on the other end, then committed a foul with 12.6 seconds left.
 
"We needed it to be a low 60s game," said DeChellis.  "We got 63 and they were at 64 with a minute and half to go.  We were right where we needed to be."
 
Colgate shot 40.7 percent for the game and was 10-29 (34.5%) from three-point land, while Navy made 34.9 percent of its shots from the floor and was 11-36 (30.6%) from beyond the arc.  Additionally, the Raiders were 12-15 (80.0%) from the foul line in contrast to the 8-13 (61.5%) effort by the Mids.  It was just the third time this season an opponent shot more free throws than Navy.
 
"If you were to tell me we would shoot 35 percent from the field and be in the game, I would have told you that you were out of your mind," said DeChellis.  "It hurt us today not having any production inside.  We took way too many threes, but that was the only way we could get the ball at the rim and get baskets.
 
"When we made them play halfcourt, we were pretty good defensively.  They got some offensive rebounds when we played small; they kicked them out for a couple of threes in the second half.  They are a little bigger and they are seniors."
 
Navy narrowly won the rebounding battle, 42-40, and lost the turnover contest by an equally small margin, 15-13. 
 
"We outrebounded them," said DeChellis, "but they got some big rebounds at crucial times and just scored off of them."
 
A telling statistic was Colgate holding a 14-0 lead on Navy in fastbreak points scored.
 
"Their speed and their transition baskets; that's the game," said DeChellis.
 
Individually, Davis scored a game-high 22 points today.  He also scored 20 points in Navy's win Wednesday at Bucknell.  Davis is the first Mid to score at least 20 points in back-to-back games since Bryce Dulin did it Nov. 26 and Dec. 1, 2017. 
 
Carter scored 18 points and Nelson scored a career-high 10 points.  Nelson was 4-5 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point land.
 
"I love this team," said DeChellis.  "You look out there and we have Tyler Nelson, a freshman; we have Daniel Deaver (Fr., Falls Church, Va.), a freshman; we have Greg Summers and John Carter Jr., sophomores; we have Cam Davis, a junior; we have Sean Yoder (Fr., Dublin, Pa.) and Jaylen Walker (Fr., Allen, Texas); we have a lot of young guys, freshmen and sophomores.  They make some mistakes."
 
Navy will head back out on the road Wednesday for a game at Lehigh.