EASTON, Pa. –– Another productive night by the bench helped the Navy men's basketball team to a 69-55 victory over Lafayette, Monday night at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.  The victory by the Mids (11-4, 4-0) over the Leopards (3-10, 0-2) gave them a 4-0 start to Patriot League play for the second year in a row and the third time (1998) in Navy's now 31-year membership in the league.

"I'm proud of our guys," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "We go on the road and I don't think we played our best game.  We played pretty good the first half, especially the first 15 minutes or so.  Defensively they (Lafayette) got some threes, but that what they do. Our goal was (to hold them to) 55 points and that's what they got.  They were averaging 70 points a game and we held them to 55."

Lafayette's Leo O'Boyle was fouled on while attempting a three-point field goal on the opening possession of the game.  He made all three free throw attempts, but then Navy ran off the next 11 points as the Mids held the Leopards scoreless for over four minutes.  Navy soon extended its lead to 19-5 with just over 13 minutes left in the half.

It was then Navy's turn to go on a little scoring drought as the Mids went over five minutes between made field goals to allow Lafayette to close to within five points at 21-16.  Navy responded by taking leads of 28-16 and 32-20 before Lafayette hit back-to-back triples to made the score 34-26 with 2:50 still to play in the half.  

John Carter Jr. (Sr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) scored on a layup after grabbing an offensive board, then he made a long two-point jumper with 12 seconds remaining to give the Mids a 38-28 advantage at intermission.

Carter totaled 10 first-half points and Tyler Nelson (Jr., Monroe, N.C.) scored seven in the frame to stake the Mids to the lead.  Navy shot 51.6 percent from the field in the first half.  On the other end, half of Lafayette's 10 made field goals came from beyond the arc as the Leopards connected on 43.5 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes.

Aiding Navy's efforts was a 19-9 advantage on the glass, which led to an 8-0 edge for the Mids in second-chance points.

Navy began the second half with two quick baskets by Richard Njoku (Sr., Washington, D.C.), but Lafayette scored the next seven to close to within 42-35.  The Mids again went over five minutes between made field goals before P.J. Roach (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) scored on a driving layup and was fouled with 14:02 left on the clock.  He converted the three-point play to push the cushion out to 46-35.  After four-straight points by the Leopards, the Mids went on an 8-0 run to build a 54-39 advantage with 9:22 remaining.

It took some time, but Lafayette winnowed the margin down to single digits at 57-48 with 3:50 still to play.  Carter hit a jumper on the ensuing possession, then made another basket one minute later to stretch the difference out to 61-48 with just 2:10 left on the clock.

Navy's shooting cooled off a little after halftime as the Mids made a still respectable 44 percent of their field goal attempts.  Navy also was more judicious in its shot selection as the Mids were just 1-3 from three-point land after halftime.  Defensively, Navy limited Lafayette to a 1-11 effort from beyond the arc in the second half, which was part of a 42.9-percent shooting effort from the field for the home team.

The Leopards entered the game averaging 9.8 three-point field goals made a game, but made just six (on 23 attempts) this evening.

Navy's bench, which didn't include Austin Inge (So., Greensboro, N.C.) due to his starting his third-straight game in place of Greg Summers (Sr., Ocoee, Fla.), scored 21 points on the night.  It was the fifth game in a row in which the reserves scored at least 20 points.  In contrast, Lafayette scored just seven points from its bench.

"Our bench was good again tonight," said DeChellis.  "We outscored them 21 points to seven, and there is the game.

"There are plays throughout the game.  We had some hustle plays in the first half.  Sean Yoder (Jr., Dublin, Pa.) made one and Dorsey made one to kind of break things open.  P.J. driving to the basket was a big play.  He (Roach) played 18 minutes because he had to without Greg.  That kind of gets lost in that we have a senior who we were counting on playing and he couldn't.  It is a great team win.  Everybody stepped up.  The bench did a great job again."

Navy narrowly won the rebounding battle, 32-29, which included a 10-9 advantage on the offensive glass.  However, the Mids scored 15 second-chance points and  allowed the Leopards to score just four second-chance points.  Navy also turned 15 Lafayette turnovers into 18 points while the Leopards forced just seven turnovers which led to 12 points.

Carter paced the Mids with 19 points and added six rebounds –– four offensive boards –– to finish one behind Patrick Dorsey's (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.) team-leading seven caroms.  Nelson joined Carter in double figures with 11 points and Daniel Deaver (Jr., Fairfax, Va.) led the Navy bench with eight points.

Navy returns home to play host to Colgate Thursday at 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall.