ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Loyola (5-10) took an early lead and staved off every charge the Navy (15-3) men's basketball team made at it in a 76-68 victory by the Greyhounds over the Mids, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament.
 
The old adage in sports is that it is hard to beat a team three times in one season.  Navy entered today's game in search of a third win over the Greyhounds in one week (73-67, Feb. 27; 66-58, Feb. 28) and a fourth victory in the series this season (70-52, Jan. 30). 
 
Navy played a third-straight game without first-team all-league honoree Cam Davis (Sr., Battlefield, Mo.) and starting post player Richard Njoku (Jr., Washington, D.C.) due to Navy's COVID 19 protocols.
 
The Mids were the outright No. 1 seed in the tournament for the first time since the 1996-97 edition of the event.  The ninth-seeded Greyhounds, who didn't play their scheduled first-round game at No. 8 Holy Cross Wednesday due to a positive COVID 19 test within the Tier 1 group for the Crusaders, advance to the semifinal round of the tournament for the first time since joining the league for the 2013-14 season.
 
"Credit Loyola," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "They came in here and beat us.  I don't think we played our best game.  I don't think we defended or rebounded, and that's been the trademark of this team.  We didn't play our best game, and this is an unfortunate time of year to do that when you are one and done. 
 
"I feel bad for our kids, but we did it to ourselves."
 
"This definitely stings; it hurts," said Greg Summers (Jr., Ocoee, Fla.).  "We didn't play the way we needed to, especially on defense.  We didn't play as cohesive of a game as we wanted to."
 
Loyola took leads of 3-0, 14-8, 24-15 and 32-21 before going into halftime with a 40-28 lead.  The Greyhounds shot 61 percent from the field and limited the Mids to a 43-percent effort.  Loyola also held advantages over Navy in rebounds (17-10), points in the paint (20-12) and second-chance points (9-4).
 
After a Loyola three-point basket opened the second half, Navy scored 13 of the next 15 points to close to within 45-41.  Loyola's Golden Dike would score while being fouled on the other end of the court.  He missed the foul shot, but in the scramble for the loose ball the Mids committed a foul. Santi Aldama would score for the Greyhounds to give them a four-point possession and just like that they took a 49-41 lead.
 
Navy stormed right back and closed to within one point at 49-48 with 13:32 remaining.  The Mids then forced a turnover when their press sent the Loyola ballhandler out of bounds.  Navy did not have the chance to capitalize on the opportunity, however, as the Mids were called for a moving screen as the ball was being inbounded.
 
Loyola missed a shot on the other end, but Navy missed a shot as well.  Another turnover by the Greyhounds followed, but so too did a missed shot by the Mids.  Back-to-back triples by Loyola ensued, which pushed its lead out to 55-48. 
 
"That was a big sequence when we had three chances to take the lead," said DeChellis.  "If we take the lead, that changes a lot of things."
 
From there, each time Navy made a run, Loyola had an answer.  The Mids closed to within four points at 61-57 and 65-61, then it was a 67-64 game with 2:44 remaining.  Loyola scored the next five points to stretch the margin out to eight points at 72-64 with 39.0 seconds left to play.
 
Navy had led Loyola for all but 12 of the 120 minutes played between the teams in the first three games this season, but the Greyhounds led for the final 38:36 this afternoon.
 
Each team shot roughly the same percentage from the field in the second half, which allowed Loyola to hold a 58.2-48.3 percent shooting advantage in the game.
 
Both teams also grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, but Loyola turned that in 19 second-chance points and limited Navy to just 11 points in second chance opportunities.  The Greyhounds led the Mids, 34-26, in overall rebounds.
 
"We didn't do the things we have done all season to get to this point," said DeChellis.  "We didn't do the basics; defend and rebound.  It wasn't a good defensive effort at all."
 
Summers was 9-12 from the field and 3-4 from the foul line in scoring a career-high tying 21 points.  He also added three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals in 39 minutes.  Also scoring in double figures was Patrick Dorsey with 12.
 
John Carter Jr. (Jr., Spring Hill, Tenn.), who averaged 21.0 points per game in Navy's two wins last week over Loyola, was limited to just 17 minutes of playing time after missing practice all week until Friday due to an illness.  Carter scored six points in his limited playing time.
 
Navy now waits to see if the Mids are selected for the NIT.  In a normal year, teams winning a conference regular season title who are not selected for the NCAA Tournament receive an automatic berth into the 32-team field.  This year, however, the field is being limited to 16 teams and the criteria for determining the field has not been announced.  The NIT will announce its field the night of Sunday, March 14.