BETHLEHEM, Pa. –– John Carter Jr. (Jr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) made four three-point field goals and was one of four members of the Navy (6-1, 3-0 Patriot League) men's basketball team to score in double figures in a 69-61 victory by the Mids over Lehigh (1-2, 1-2), Saturday afternoon at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.
 
"It is important that we share the ball," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis –– who moved into fourth place by himself among Navy's head coaches for career victories by recording his 120^th win at the school today –– on having four players score in double figures.  "It is a team sport and we like to be able to share the basketball.  That's who we are.  We are a very unselfish team.  We don't care who scores.  We were able to make some plays and pass the ball.  We have to use each other to get open.  We are not the kind of team who can break guys down one-on-one and just go and score.  We have to use each other to get open to run our offense successfully."
 
The win improves Navy to 3-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 1997-98, the third time in the program's 30 seasons in the league and the fifth time in 40 years of being in a conference.  Additionally, the Mids have posted a 6-1 start to the year for the first time since the 2008-09 season.  Navy has now posted either a 6-1 or 7-0 record to start a season for the fifth time since the 1959-60 campaign.
 
Navy and Lehigh will play again Sunday at 3 p.m. in Annapolis.
 
Carter drilled a three-point field goal on Navy's opening possession of the game, then made another one three minutes later.  The Mids soon built a 16-8 advantage only to see it dwindle down to one point at 18-17.  It again was a one-point game at 22-21 when a 6-0 and 10-3 run boosted Navy out to a 32-24 advantage with 1:35 remaining before intermission.  The Mids went into the locker room holding a 34-27 lead.
 
The start of the second half was a different story as the Mountain Hawks started the stanza 4-5 from the floor in contrast to the 0-7 start for the Mids.  That allowed Lehigh to take a 35-34 lead.  That would be the first of five lead changes over the next five minutes of play.
 
"I didn't like the way we came of the locker room," said DeChellis of the team's start to the second half.  "I didn't think we did a very good job at all.  Give credit to them (Lehigh).  They made some baskets.  I thought we missed some easy shots coming out of the locker room in the second half.
 
"We just didn't play the way we want to play there for a stretch."
 
Lehigh held a 43-41 lead when Carter hit a jumper to tie the game, then Richard Njoku (Jr., Washington, D.C.) scored on an inside move after he recorded a steal to make the score 45-43 in favor of the Mids.  Lehigh's Jeameril Wilson scored to tie the game for what would prove to be the last time at 45-45 with 10:42 remaining.
 
Greg Summers (Jr., Ocoee, Fla.) made one of two free throw attempts to give Navy a 46-45 lead, then Jaylen Walker (So., Allen, Texas) scored on the ensuing Navy possession to make it a three-point game.  After a Lehigh missed shot, the Mountain Hawks were called for several fouls on Navy's next offensive opportunity.  The possession ended with Austin Inge (Fr., Greensboro, N.C.) being fouled while attempting a three-point field goal just before the shot clock expired.  He made all three attempts to push the lead out to 51-45.  Lehigh was one shot and done on its next trip.  Summers grabbed the defensive carom after the attempt by the Mountain Hawks and was fouled.  He walked to the other end of the court and missed the front end of the bonus.  However, Walker snared the loose ball and scored to give Navy a 53-45 advantage with 7:48 remaining.
 
"We made some baskets, got some separation, knocked some basketballs free," said DeChellis. 
 
The 8-0 Navy run was halted on Lehigh's next trip down the floor as Jakob Alamudun scored for the Mountain Hawks.  However, the Mids scored each of the next five points to stretch their cushion out to 58-47 with just over six minutes still to play.  Navy eventually would take its largest lead of the game when Carter drilled his fourth triple to make the score 61-49 with 5:29 showing on the clock.
 
Lehigh sliced that 12-point margin in half at 61-55 with 2:06 remaining.  From there, first Cam Davis (Sr., Battlefield, Mo.) and then Walker made a pair of free throws to expand the lead out to 65-57 with 50 seconds left.  Davis promptly grabbed an errant Lehigh field goal attempt and was fouled again.  He made both shots from the foul line to give the Mids a 67-57 advantage with 28.8 seconds on the clock.
 
Lehigh shot 56.3 percent from the field to Navy's 46 percent, and the Mountain Hawks made 27 field goals to 23 by the Mids.  However, Navy was 19-26 from the foul line in comparison to the 4-9 effort by Lehigh.
 
"Defensively, I thought we were pretty good today," said DeChellis.  "Even though they shot a good percentage from the floor, we were pretty good.  We defended okay, and then we made some shots finally."
 
Additionally, Navy led Lehigh in second chance points (12-6), fastbreak points (11-6) and points scored after turnovers (21-12).  The latter scoring figure was despite there being just a five turnover difference between the teams (16 for Lehigh, 11 for Navy).
 
Individually, Carter's 18 points paced all players in the game.  Walker, Njoku and Davis each scored 10 points for the Mids.  Walker had totaled 14 points in four games this season and his previous career high for points in a game was seven.  He also snared a career-high eight rebounds to share today's team lead with Summers.
 
"He has had better nights," said DeChellis of Davis.  "But again, credit them; they ran some different guys at him and made his life tough.  But that's what he's going to see night in and night out in the league.  I'm not sure if we did a good job of getting him open shots.
 
"But more importantly, John Carter had a good night shooting the basketball, Richard Njoku had a good game inside, Jaylen Walker did a really nice job off the bench and rebounding and making his free throws and made some shots.  It is a team game and everybody can't play their best every single night.  I thought the other guys did a good job of coming in and pitching in and doing what needed to be done for us to be successful this afternoon."
 
Lehigh was led by 17 points from Nic Lynch and 14 from Jaylin Sinclair.