ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Colgate (8-7, 2-0) made eight second-half three-point field goals to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and defeat the Navy men's basketball team (5-8, 1-1), 80-72, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

"I thought we played really well the first 16 minutes," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. "The game was lost in the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.  It is a young team and we have made an emphasis in just about every game; you have to finish the first half."

Colgate took an early 10-4 lead, but Navy answered and built leads of 17-12 and then 30-15.  The Mids held a 36-24 advantage late in the half before the Raiders closed to within 36-31.  A Navy basket in the last minute of the half sent the teams into the locker room with the Mids in front, 38-31.

Navy scored 17 points off the 11 Colgate turnovers in the first half.  The Raiders scored just five points after the six turnovers committed by the Mids.

Colgate opened the second half on an 8-2 run to take a 41-40 lead less than three minutes into the frame.  The game would be tied at 44 when an 11-2 run by the Raiders gave them a 55-46 lead with 13 minutes still to play.  

The Raiders started the second half 6-8 from three-point range and 9-11 from the field in all.  Conversely, the Mids were 3-8 from the floor and missed both of their three-point attempts in that span.

"We didn't finish the half well," said DeChellis.  "We turned it over and they made some shots to get within striking distance and then we come out of the locker room in the second half ... we missed a wide open layup and then go to the free throw line and miss two shots (on the opening possession).  It was 26-11 (for Colgate) the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.  That's the game."

The Mids climbed back into the game and back-to-back triples by Lysander Rehnstrom pulled them to within 64-59 of the Raiders.  After an exchange of baskets (66-61), Navy had two opportunities to make it a one possession game but came away empty each time.  Colgate then scored five points over its next two trips down the floor to regain a 71-61 advantage with 3:31 showing on the clock.

Navy was able to close to within six points at 78-72 with 27.1 seconds remaining.  A Colgate turnover gave the ball back to the Mids with 22.1 seconds left, but the Mids were unable to score on that extra opportunity.

The Raiders ended the game shooting 52.9 percent from the floor, which included a 64-percent effort (16-25) in the second half.  Colgate was 8-14 (57.1%) from beyond the arc after halftime and posted an overall three-point mark of 13-25 (52%).  

Navy had been allowing foes to connect on 25.17 percent of three-point attempts this season, which shared the lead in the country coming into the game.

"We didn't guard coming out in the second half," said DeChellis.  "We didn't match-up in transition.  And now it is the end of the game and you are trying to run uphill the whole second half."

After shooting 50 percent from the floor in the first half, Navy cooled down slightly to a 14-32 (43.8%) effort in the second half.  That gave the Mids a showing of 46.8 percent for the game.  Navy was just 10-25 (40%) from three-point land in the game, which included a 4-14 (28.6%) mark in the final 20 minutes.

Colgate also was 13-17 (76.5) from the free throw line in the game to better the 4-11 (36.4%) effort by Navy.

The Mids also couldn't turn the Raiders over in the second half to the level they did in the first half.  Colgate committed just five second half turnovers, with Navy committing three turnovers. 

Colgate also won the battle on the glass as it snared 34 turnovers to the 29 gathered in by Navy.

Four Mids scored in double figures.  Mac MacDonald led the way with 15, Austin Benigni totaled 14 points and eight assists, Donovan Draper posted 13 points, 11 rebounds and three steals and Rehnstrom scored 12 points on 4-8 shooting from three-point range.

Colgate's Braeden Smith led all players with 25 points.

Navy will play a pair of road games next week, starting Wednesday at Holy Cross and ending Saturday at Lafayette.