BALTIMORE, Md. –– A short-handed Navy (14-2, 11-1 Patriot League) men's basketball team held off a late charge from Loyola (4-9, 4-9) to defeat the Greyhounds, 73-67, Saturday afternoon at Reitz Arena in Baltimore.
 
The teams will meet Sunday at 4 p.m. in Annapolis in the regular season finale for each team.  A victory by the Mids tomorrow gives them the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament.  A win by the Greyhounds drops Navy to the No. 2 seed. 
 
Navy played today's game without leading scorer Cam Davis (Sr., Battlefield, Mo.) and starting post player Richard Njoku (Jr., Washington, D.C.).  Both Davis, who leads Navy in points (17.1 ppg) and assists, and Njoku, who is averaging 7.6 points and 4.2 rebounds a game and leads Navy with nine blocked shots, missed today's game due to COVID contact tracing with other Midshipmen who are not affiliated with the men's basketball program.
 
"I'm proud of our team, to win a hard-fought game today without two of our starters," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "We didn't finish the game well, but that was the first time some of the guys were in that situation."
 
Despite the absence of 24.7 points per game, the Mids quickly jumped out to an 11-2 lead on the Greyhounds.  Loyola closed the margin down to four points at 12-8, but a 10-0 run by the Mids pushed the lead out to 22-8 with nine minutes left in the first half.  The lead would eventually grow to 17 points at 34-17 with three minutes still to play. 
 
Greg Summers (Jr., Ocoee, Fla.) was one the main catalysts for Navy during the first half.  He was 4-4 from the field and 5-6 from the foul line in scoring 13 points.  Summers also contributed five rebounds and four steals in the half. 
 
However, he picked up his second foul with 2:18 left on the clock and went to the bench.  Loyola's Cam Spencer made the two free throw attempts he was awarded after the Summers foul, and that helped the Greyhounds close the half on a 7-0 run to slice the lead down to 10 points at 34-24 through 20 minutes of play.
 
Navy scored 20 of its 34 first-half points following Loyola's 16 turnovers.  Conversely, the Greyhounds scored nine points following the nine turnovers committed by the Mids.
 
Loyola quickly sliced more into the deficit in the early part of the second half. After closing the first half on a 7-0 run, the Greyhounds opened the second half on a 5-0 run to make the score 34-29. 
 
Navy answered with a Jaylen Walker (So., Allen, Texas) layup, a steal by Walker that led to a John Carter Jr. (Jr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) layup, and an Alec Loehr (Sr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) steal that led to a jumper by Summers.  Those efforts made the score 40-29. 
 
The lead would hover between nine and 12 points until the Mids expanded it out to 18 with 10:15 left in the game.  The last seven points of a 9-0 run that pushed the lead to 57-39 were scored by Carter.
 
It was still a double-digit game at 65-54 with 4:02 remaining when fortunes started to change.
 
Santi Aldama made two free throws for Loyola, then the Mids missed a shot from the lane.  Aldama proceeded to snare on offensive board and score on the putback to make the score 65-58 with three minutes remaining.  Each team missed two foul shots on their next respective possession, then Isaiah Hart stole the ball for the Greyhounds and scored on a layup to draw the home team to within 65-60 with 2:19 still to play.
 
Carter missed a three-point try on the next Navy offensive opportunity, but the Mids came away unharmed thanks to a Loyola turnover that stopped the clock.  Navy had trouble inbounding the ball and Hart grabbed the errant pass and quickly drove from halfcourt to the basket.  Trailing the play was Daniel Deaver (So., Falls Church, Va.) and he blocked Hart's layup attempt off the backboard.  Play was stopped as the initial call was goaltending, which made the score 65-62 with one minute left to play.  However, the officials reviewed the play and determined that it was a clean block, which took the points off the scoreboard and gave Loyola the ball under its own basket. 

After play resumed, Navy forced Loyola into a turnover with 49.9 seconds left, which kept it a five-point game.  The Greyhounds went into a full court press, but the Mid broke it and found Deaver underneath the hoop for a layup while being fouled with 39.2 seconds remaining.  He made the attempt to push the lead out to 68-60.
 
It would soon be a six-point game at 71-65 with 10.9 seconds left.  Summers made one foul shot with 10.4 seconds remaining.  Spencer was fouled for Loyola and made two free throws with 5.5 seconds left to make the score 72-67.  Carter was fouled on the inbounds pass and he made one foul shot to close out the scoring.
 
Navy was 24-51 (47.1%) from the field and 4-11 (36.4%) from three-point range, while Loyola was 22-46 (47.8%) from the floor and 3-11 (27.3%) from beyond the arc.  The Mids were 21-35 (60%) from the foul line and the Greyhounds were 20-27 (74.1%).
 
Navy ended the game scoring 32 points off of 24 Loyola turnovers, and the Greyhounds tallied 17 points following the 16 turnovers by the Mids.
 
Carter was 7-10 from the field, including 3-4 from three-point range, in scoring 23 second-half points.  He would end the game with 26 points to edge the 20 points produced by Summers for the team scoring honors.
 
Aldama led all players with 27 points.