ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- In what has to be considered one of the best games to be played in Alumni Hall, the Navy (21-10) men's basketball team outlasted Boston U. (21-12), 85-80 in overtime, Sunday afternoon in Annapolis in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal round game.  The victory by the second-seeded Mids over the third-seeded Terriers advances Navy to the championship game of the event.

Navy will face top-seeded Colgate Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Hamilton, N.Y., in a game to be televised on the CBS Sports Network.  The winner of that game receives the league's automatic invitation to the NCAA Tournament.  The Mids are appearing in the title tilt for the first time since 2001.

Sunday's game featured 11 ties and 16 lead changes.  There were eight ties and 10 lead changes in the last 12 minutes of regulation, with another one tie and two lead changes in overtime.

"Just a great basketball game," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "Really good game, back and forth, high level.  The seniors (for both teams) really shined for tonight.  This is the way it is supposed to be in March. The seniors stepped up and made plays."

Navy led for the last 15 minutes of the first half, with the advantage being as many as eight points (17-9) and as few as one (20-19, 22-21).  The Mids went into halftime holding a 27-23 lead.  The Terriers scored seven-straight points in the early moments of the second half to tie the game at 30-30.  Navy answered and took a 37-32 lead only to see Boston U., grab the lead at 40-39 with 12 minutes left.

The largest lead for either team over the next 11 minutes was three points and that was when the Mids held a 50-47 lead with just under eight minutes remaining.  From there, the score would be tied at 50-50, 52-52, 54-54 and 58-58.

Patriot League Player of the Year Sukhmail Mathon scored to give Boston U. a 60-59 lead with 2:18 remaining.  Neither team scored again until Richard Njoku (Sr., Washington, D.C.) threw down a dunk off of a great pass from Jaylen Walker (Jr., Allen, Texas) to give Navy a 61-60 lead with just over one minute remaining.  Walker then blocked Mathon in front of the Boston rim.  Sean Yoder (Jr., Dublin, Pa.) grabbed the rebound and then Greg Summers (Sr., Ocoee, Fla.) was quickly fouled with 31.8 seconds left.  He made both foul shots to make the score 63-60.  

Javante McCoy was fouled on the other end of the court, but he missed the front end of the bonus with 24.8 seconds left.  Yoder again grabbed the defensive board and was fouled with 22.5 seconds still to play.  He converted both free throws to stretch the advantage to 65-60.

Boston's Ethan Brittain-Watts was fouled while driving to the basket.  He made both attempts to make the score 65-62 with 16.7 seconds remaining.  The Mids inbounded the ball and Tyler Nelson (Jr., Monroe, N.C.) was fouled with 13.4 seconds left.  He also made both foul shots to return the lead to five points (67-62).  

Boston rushed the ball down the court and McCoy drilled a three-point shot to cut the margin down to 67-65 with 9.2 seconds left.  Navy called timeout, then inbounded it to Yoder who was fouled with 8.5 seconds left.  Yoder missed the first foul shot, but made the second to take the Navy lead back to three points.  That was needed because McCoy drained another triple to tie the game with 3.9 seconds left.  The Mids hurried the ball up the court and John Carter Jr., (Sr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) had a pretty clean look at a 22-foot shot at the buzzer that was just a little wide of its mark.

Navy had two shots on the first possession of overtime, but came away with no points.  The Terriers saw McCoy fouled on their first offensive opportunity, and he converted two foul shots to give them a 70-68 lead.  Summers scored for the Mids while being fouled to return the lead to Navy at 71-70.  Both teams missed three-point shots, then another Boston missed shot was gathered in by the Mids.  Summers would again score while being fouled to give Navy a 74-70 lead with 2:39 remaining.

A pair of made free throws by Brittain-Watts followed, but Carter drilled a three-pointy shot to make the score 77-72 with 2:16 showing on the clock.  McCoy responded with a triple, which was answered by a Carter trey to give Navy its five-point lead (80-75) with 1:11 left.  McCoy responded with yet another triple to bring the margin back down to two points at 80-78 with 59.1 seconds remaining.

Walker scored on the other end with 39.0 seconds left, making the score 82-78.  McCoy then was called for a charging foul, which returned the ball to the Mids with 30.6 seconds remaining.  Navy called timeout, then had to call another timeout when the Mids struggled to inbound the ball.  Navy did inbound the ball after the second stoppage, and Summers was fouled with 28.2 seconds left.  He missed the first attempt but made the second (83-78).  It took all of 10 seconds for McCoy to strike again, this time with a mid-range jumper with 18.8 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game at 83-80.  Boston then called its final timeout.

Navy inbounded the ball and the Terriers tried to get a steal before fouling Yoder with 12.3 seconds left.  He made both attempts to account for the final points in the game.

"We moved Greg back on the ball late in the second half because we thought defensively we needed to be a little better," said DeChellis.  "He did a great job and (on offense) we got him going down the lane.  Then he finished and made his free throws."`

Most shooting statistics between the teams were fairly even in terms of percentages and makes, but Navy was 20-25 from the foul line in contrast to the 16-20 effort by Boston.

Navy did hold some significant statistical advantages in rebounds, 42-32; offensive rebounds, 14-9; second-chance points, 13-5; and bench points, 43-13.

McCoy scored 30 points in the game, including 10 of Boston's 12 overtime points and 26 in the last 25 minutes of the game. Mathon ended the game with 14 points and six rebounds.

"There is a reason he is the player of the year," said DeChellis of Mathon.  "He is a really good player.  McCoy was a handful.  He played great.  I feel bad for that young guy.  He was a really hard matchup.  Every time he shot the ball I thought it was going in."

Carter and Summers each scored 21 points in the game.  Carter had scored just two points in the first half and Summers had scored eight first-half points.  The two seniors also had six rebounds apiece to share the team lead on the glass with classmate Njoku, and Summers dished out five assists.  Additionally, Walker finished the game with 13 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots, two of which were in the latter stages of the game off of shots at the rim by Mathon.

"The way the game played out was kind of how you want it," said Carter.  "It is stressful for us, but we wouldn't want it any other way (with) going to overtime against a great team in Boston.  We always have great battles with them and respect all of their players without a doubt."

"This is March; this is what we want, this is what we have honestly dreamed of," said Summers.  "The atmosphere, it was a great atmosphere and going back and forth, we had a lot of guys step up and competed." 

"These guys have worked really hard," said DeChellis.  "John Carter, Christian Silva (Sr., Miami, Fla.), Richard Njoku and Greg Summers have worked really hard.  They have been here four years and three of them went to our prep school.  They have done a great job. They have been great ambassadors for our program.  They have really elevated our program and I am really grateful for those four guys to play in a championship game."