WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Guards Cam Davis (Sr., Battlefield, Mo.) and John Carter Jr., (Jr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) combined for 30 second-half points and 48 in all during a 78-71 victory by the Navy (3-1) men's basketball team over Georgetown (1-1), Tuesday night at McDonough Arena in Washington, D.C.  
 
The victory for the Mids was:

• Navy's first over Georgetown since winning, 56-55, on Jan. 12, 1977, in Washington, D.C.,
• Navy's first road win at a Big East team since winning, 97-85, at Syracuse on March 16, 1986, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament,
• Navy's first win over a Big East team since defeating Pittsburgh, 60-49, on Nov. 26, 1996, in Annapolis,
• Navy's first win over a current member of the Big East since winning, 68-65, at Providence on Dec. 29, 1981.

 
"It is a great win for us, for our kids and the Academy," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "We played well down the stretch to win.  We expected to win.  I told our guys at halftime when we were up by a couple of points, and we expect that."
 
"I think the biggest thing (tonight's win) is that we are changing the culture," said Davis, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career Saturday in a 26-point effort against Mount St. Mary's.  "We had a couple of rough years, but we are building a culture where winning is what we expect to do.  We came in here confident.
 
"It (gaining the confidence) is putting in the work each day.  It is not something we do once in awhile.  We are doing this each day, putting in the work in the weight room and staying healthy."
 
The game, which was Navy's fourth in seven days and Georgetown's first since last Wednesday, was played at Navy's preferred pace from the start, which was patient as opposed to Georgetown's preference to play quicker.  Navy led by as many as six points in the first half (24-18) and held the lead for over 10 minutes of the stanza.  Conversely, the lone Georgetown leads in the first half were at 3-0, 10-9 and 16-15.  The teams went into the locker room with the Mids in front, 29-26.
 
Davis and Carter combined for 18 of those 29 first-half points, with Davis scoring 10 and Carter eight.  Carter also added seven rebounds, which helped the Mids hold the Hoyas without a second-chance point in the first 20 minutes of the game. 
 
Things changed dramatically at the start of the second half as Georgetown scored each of the first eight and 11 of the first 13 points of the frame.  That effort boosted the Hoyas out to a 32-29 lead, which they soon extended to 37-31 with 17:40 still to play.
 
The margin would be back to six points at 45-39 before Navy tied the score at 52-52 on a basket by Carter.  The Hoyas regained the lead and soon held a 58-54 cushion with just over eight minutes left on the clock.
 
Richard Njoku (Jr., Washington, D.C.) scored on a layup off of a nice feed into the post from Austin Inge (Fr., Greensboro, N.C.), then Carter scored on a fastbreak to tie the game at 58.  Jamorko Pickett answered on the other end for the Hoyas, but then Davis drained a three-point shot to give Navy a 61-60 lead with 6:39 showing on the clock.
 
Carter ended a long ensuing Georgetown possession with a steal, with Njoku scoring on the other end to make the score 63-60 with six minutes left.  After each team had an empty possession, a pair of free throws by the Hoyas drew them to within one point at 63-62.
 
Davis promptly drained a jumper, the Hoyas missed a shot, Carter banged in a three-point basket and Tyler Nelson (So., Monroe, N.C.) recorded a steal and converted it into a layup.  Just like that, Navy held a 70-62 advantage with 3:34 still to play. 
 
The Hoyas shaved one point off of that deficit with a made free throw on their next trip down the court, but then Nelson scored again on a layup to make the score 72-63 with three minutes left. 
 
Georgetown's Jahvon Blair made a three-point shot to make it a six-point game, then the Mids came away without a basket on their next offensive opportunity.  However, Inge recorded a steal and scored on a layup to stretch the advantage to 74-66.  A steal and layup by Davis then took the Mids out to a 76-66 lead with 85 seconds remaining and result in a Georgetown timeout.
 
The Hoyas sent the ball inside to Qudus Wahab, and he scored to cut the margin down to eight points.  Georgetown had played very clean defense for most of the second half, which was good for the Hoyas until now as they needed to foul multiple times –– and let time evaporate off the clock while doing so –– before they could send the Mids to the free throw line in hopes of a missed effort.  After four quick fouls, Njoku went to the charity stripe with 32.7 seconds remaining.  He would miss the front end of the bonus and Georgetown gathered in the carom.  That led to Pickett drilling a three-point shot to make the score 76-71 with 19.6 seconds still to play.  The Mids inbounded the ball to Davis and he was fouled with 17.9 seconds remaining.  He marched to the other end of the court and calmly converted both attempts to account for the final points in the game.
 
After trailing by the score of 58-54, the Mids closed the game on a 24-13 run.  Five different Mids scored during that stretch of play, with Davis scoring a team-best nine of those points.
 
"We were at Maryland a few days ago and were right there with them at halftime and then we didn't play well in the second half," said DeChellis.  "(Today) I challenged our guys at halftime.  We didn't come out the way we wanted to, but I said we withstood some runs and now let's make a run ourselves.  The kids just believed.  It is no magic; the kids just believed. They continued to fight. We are not a lot of things, but we have some grit and we will fight you."
 
"We know this (Georgetown) is an historic program with a hall-of-fame coach," said Davis.  "It was a special game.  It was awesome to come out here and play in an environment like this.  But that doesn't change anything for us.  We are still going to go out there and play Navy basketball and execute and do what we do."
 
Navy shot 60.6 percent from the field in the second half and limited Georgetown to a 47.2 percent effort from the floor.  The Mids also outscored the Hoyas 28-18 in the paint in the second half and 40-24 for the game.  Several more keys were Navy holding an 11-10 edge in second chance points, a 19-5 advantage in points scored after turnovers, the Mids accounting for 14 bench points to one for the Hoyas and each team totaling eight points off of fastbreaks.
 
"We watched the game the other night when they (Georgetown) played UMBC and they had 21 offensive rebounds," said DeChellis. "I told our guys, 'if we can keep them off the offensive glass and make them play half court, we can give ourselves a change to be successful.  But it is one thing to say that another to go do it.  Our guys hit guys, they held their box outs, which was really important for us.  We are not a tall team, but we are scrappy and have tough kids."
 
Individually, Davis scored 18 of his career-high tying 28 points in the second half.  He was 6-8 from the field, including 2-3 from three-point range, in the final 20 minutes play. 
 
This is the third time since the start of the 2019-20 season in which Davis has scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games.
 
"He (Davis) has played for us for four years now," said DeChellis.  "As a freshman he got some time, as a sophomore he played more and last year he played a lot and was all conference.  I'm not real bright, but I know he is pretty good and I am going to give him a leash to make plays."
 
Carter was 5-7 from the floor in scoring 12 of his 20 points in the second half.  Njoku totaled eight points and six boards, Nelson contributed six points and an equal number of rebounds and Daniel Deaver (So. Falls Church, Va.) recorded seven points and three boards.
 
"I thought Richard did an unbelievable job (defensively) inside," said DeChellis.
 
Georgetown had four players score in double figures, with Pickett and Blair each tallying 17 points. 
 
Navy, which has posted a 3-1 record at the start of a season for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign, will now take a break in its schedule for exams.  The Mids will be back on the Alumni Hall court for games against Morgan State on Dec. 16 and Delaware on Dec. 21.