ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Christian Jones (Sr., Bowie, Md.) and Daniel Deaver (Sr., Falls Church, Va.) combined for 25 second-half points as the Navy men's basketball team (17-11, 10-6) rallied from an early deficit after halftime to defeat Loyola (10-19, 5-11), 65-53, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The victory was Navy's sixth in a row and ninth in its last 10 games.  The result of this and the other games around the league also assured the Mids of being a top-four seed and playing host to a quarterfinal round game in the Patriot League Tournament.

"I was proud of our guys," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "This has been a tough week for them; academically with six-week exams, we got home late Wednesday night (after playing at Lehigh), really didn't practice Thursday and had a one-day prep (for Loyola) yesterday.

"I thought we did a really good job defensively.  Holding them to 53 points and they shot only 35 percent from the floor and 26 percent from three (point range).  We had to take away the three-point shot, and I thought we did a good job of that."

Neither team had any sizable lead in the first half that ended with the Mids in front, 28-24.  Deaver, who was limited to nine minutes of playing time in the first half due to receiving two fouls, opened the second half scoring with a field goal.  Navy's six-point lead quickly evaporated as Loyola scored the next eight points as part of a 12-2 run that gave it a 36-32 lead.

The Mids rattled off the next six points -- four of which were from Jones -- to regain the lead.  Loyola's Jaylin Andrews hit a jumper on the other end of the floor to tie the game at 38-38 with 10:48 left on the clock.  That would be the last field goal made by the Greyhounds for seven minutes as the Mids built a 60-41 advantage with 3:45 still to play.

The 28-5 run that started when Navy trailed 36-32 included 12 points from Deaver and 11 from Jones.

Loyola answered back and soon it was a 60-51 game with 92 seconds still to play.  The Mids were 5-6 from the foul line over the remainder of the game to seal the victory.

Navy shot 54.2 percent (13-24) from the floor after halftime and held Loyola to a 34.5-percent effort (10-29).   The Mids were 2-5 (40%) from three-point land in the second half and the Greyhounds were 2-10 (20%) from beyond the arc.  Navy also made 81.8 percent (9-11) of its foul shots in the final 20 minutes of play while Loyola made just 58.3 percent (7-12) of it free throws.

The Mids were the more opportunistic team as they turned 12 Loyola turnovers into 13 points and the Greyhounds scored just four points after the nine Navy turnovers they forced.

Deaver was 7-9 from the floor after halftime to score 14 points, while Jones was 4-5 from the field, including making his only three-point attempt, and 2-2 from the foul line to score 11 second-half points.  Those two players accounted for 25 of Navy's 37 points after intermission.

"We missed Deaver's scoring and passing (in the first half)," said DeChellis, "but I thought he played better after he had kind of sat down and had halftime.  I thought he was amped up (in the first half).  He was much better in the second half.

"I thought Christian Jones was outstanding.  I thought he was unbelievable defensively.  I said to the staff on the bench that Chris had played some quality minutes but he hadn't scored.  Then, bang-bang, he rattled off three or four straight baskets, which we needed him to do, and which he can do."

Deaver ended the game with 19 points and eight rebounds and Jones totaled 13 points.  Not to be lost in the second half play of Deaver and Jones was Tyler Nelson (Sr., Monroe, N.C.) posting nine points and six rebounds in the first half.  Nelson amassed 12 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks over the course of the game.

"Tyler had seven rebounds total, three offensively," said DeChellis.  "In the second half, I thought we were more settled on both ends of the floor.  He (Nelson) had a big block there late."

Two games remain in the Patriot League's regular season.  The Mids will play Wednesday at American before playing host to Colgate on Feb. 25.

Patriot League Standings
1. Colgate: 15-1 (Clinched #1 seed)
2. Navy: 10-6 (swept Army)
3. Lehigh: 10-6 (was swept by Army)
4. Army: 9-7
5. Lafayette: 7-9 (3-1 vs. other 2)
6. American: 7-9  (2-1 vs. other 2)
7. Holy Cross: 7-9 (0-3 vs. other 2)
8. Boston: 6-10 (swept Loyola)
9. Loyola: 5-11 
10. Bucknell: 4-12