WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Navy men's basketball team rallied from sizable deficits in both the second half and overtime to take one-point leads, but George Washington emerged with a 79-77 victory Tuesday night at the Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, D.C., when a last-second field goal attempt by Austin Inge bounced off the rim at the buzzer.  Five Mids scored in double figures as they battled back from a 12-point deficit with nine minutes left in regulation and a four-point deficit midway through the extra period.

"Our kids really, really fought," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "They came into this atmosphere and laid it on the line.  That's all I ever ask; I just want one thing from them and that is give us everything you have.  They gave us everything they had tonight.  

"We didn't shoot the ball very well.  Defensively, I thought we were pretty good.  (We) turned them over.  Offensively, we just can't find a rhythm.  We made a big shot when we needed to here and there down the stretch, but overall it is really hard to go on the road and beat someone shooting 31 percent.  But the kids found a way, defended the ball screen and played with some toughness.  We will take that."

Navy struggled shooting at the start of the game as it was 2-13 from the floor with five of those misses being George Washington blocks.  The Revolutionaries took a 21-10 lead with eight minutes left in the half.  From there, the Mids slowed down the George Washington offense with a modest three-quarter court press and were able to climb back in the game.  Five minutes after being down by 11 points, Navy tied the game at 25-25.  

The Revolutionaries would take a 33-28 lead at halftime.

Turnovers were a key in the half as the Mids scored 13 points after the 12 turnovers they forced while George Washington scored three points following the seven Navy turnovers.  The Mids also were 10-11 from the foul line in the first 20 minutes of play, which was in contrast to the 4-5 effort by the Revolutionaries.

Just as at the start of the game, the Mids struggled on offense at the beginning of the second half as they fell behind, 39-28.  Navy chipped away and was able to close to within four points at 45-41, but soon trailed by 12 at 55-43 with a little more than nine minutes still to play.  It was an 11-point game at 57-46 with eight minutes remaining when Navy started its run.

"I thought we needed to get it to a four-minute game with under 10 (points), we will take that," said DeChellis of his thoughts when being down 12 points.  "There weren't a lot of points, so I liked the point total.  We made a couple of plays, they missed some free throws and that gave us some openings.  That's the game, that's college basketball.  It may seem like a lot but if you get it to four or five points with a couple of minutes to go, the basket gets a little tighter.  I told them to keep guarding them, the basket will get smaller for them."

Navy scored the next eight points to make it a 57-54 deficit with 5:30 showing on the clock.  The Revolutionaries scored the next three points over a span of 100 seconds to take a 60-54 lead.  The Mids answered with the next four points (60-58) and soon made it a one-point game at 62-61 on a three-point field goal from Donovan Draper with two minutes left.  The teams traded field goals, then Draper scored again to give the Mids their first lead of the game at 65-64 with 33.4 seconds left.

The Mids fouled Darren Buchanan on the next play with 24.3 seconds remaining.  He missed the first shot but made the second to tie the game at 65-65.  Navy advanced the ball over halfcourt and then took its time.  Austin Benigni weaved his way into the lane where his shot was blocked by Babatunde Akingbola.  Draper snared the offense board, but missed the putback from the baseline with less than 10 seconds left.

George Washington grabbed the loose ball and gave it to James Bishop, who started to race down the court.  He was in a footrace with Inge who was able to knock the ball out of Bishop's hands with Bishop losing the ball out of bounds with one second left.  Navy called timeout, after which Inge inbounded the ball to Draper who was able to launch a shot from halfcourt that went wide as the buzzer sounded.

In overtime, a Draper basket gave the Mids a 67-66 lead, but George Washington scored the next five points to build a 71-67 lead midway through the extra session.  Benigni grabbed an offense board and scored on the putback on Navy's next possession.  Two missed free throws by the Revolutionaries were followed by Benigni scoring on a basket while being fouled.  His make from the charity stripe placed Navy in front, 72-71, with 1:29 still to play,

Similar to earlier in the overtime period, George Washington went on a 5-0 run to take a 76-72 lead with 30 seconds remaining.  The Mids had two shots blocked on their following possession, but it ended with Jack Medalie hitting a baseline triple with 16.2 seconds left to make it a 76-75 game.

Bishop was fouled on the other end of the floor and he made both free throws with 12.4 seconds left to give the Revolutionaries a 78-75 lead.  Back came the Mids and Benigni scored on a layup to again make it a one-point game at 78-77 with 8.2 seconds left.  Navy fouled Bishop on the inbounds pass with 6.1 seconds still to play.  He missed the first attempt and made the second.  

Navy inbounded to Inge, who caught the ball while moving down the court before the timeline.  He stayed on the left side of the floor and was able to get a decent looking shot off from the wing as the horn sounded.  His effort hit the rim, then the backboard, then the rim again and fell to the ground.

Navy shot 31.6 percent (24-76) from the field for the game while George Washington made 47.4 percent (27-57) of its shots.  Helping the Mids shoot a low percentage were the 15 blocks recorded by the Revolutionaries, 11 of which were tallied by Akingbola.  The 15 blocks tied the record for the most by a team against Navy and Akingbola's George Washington school record of 11 blocks was one shy of tying the Navy record for the most by an individual against the Mids.

The Mids climbed back into the game at the foul line as they were 22-24 (91.7%) and George Washington was 18-33 (54.5%).  Navy's effort ranks fourth in school history for the highest percentage in a game when attempting at least 20 foul shots.

Navy also scored 20 points after the 18 turnovers it forced and the Revolutionaries were limited to nine points after the 11 Navy turnovers.

Draper scored 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while Benigni totaled 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds.  He was 8-9 from the foul line and converted all three of his three-point play opportunities.  Inge contributed 13 points, while both Kam Summers and Medalie added 10 points.

"That's the type of team we are going to be," said DeChellis.  "It is going to be this guy pitches in, that guy pitches in; we don't have guys who are going to do it every single night, but together they can."

Navy closes a span of four games in 11 days Friday when it plays at Quinnipiac.