ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's basketball team (4-5) rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit to tie the game and have several possession to take the lead, but saw Southeastern Louisiana (3-5) make key plays down the stretch to give the Lions a 69-65 victory over the Mids, Saturday afternoon at Trask Coliseum in Wilmington, N.C.

"We have to shoot the ball better," said Navy head coach Jon Perry.  " And we have to have more of an inside presence.  All in all, we need to play a better game for 40 minutes.  We did a really good job of fighting back and getting the game tied and having the ball and then we weren't able to execute.  That takes a lot of emotion and energy, so I am proud of the guys  for that."

Navy took an early 13-6 lead only to see Southeastern go on an 18-2 run –– including 14 in a row to end that spurt –– and take a 22-15 lead a little more than midway through the first half.  The Lions went on to take a 42-27 lead at the break.

"Their pressure bothered us," said Perry.  "We had different guys initiating offense and that's something we haven't seen this year.  We have to continue to get better at that.  I thought we did get some really good looks and just couldn't make some easy baskets."

Individually, Southeastern's Peter Hemschemeier entered the game 1-15 from three-point land and 3-19 from the field this season with a season single-game high of three points and a season total of seven points.  He began today's game 6-6 from the floor including 4-4 from long range on his way to scoring 16 first half points.

"Hemschemeier made six threes and Jalen Forrest came off the bench and he had 11 points," said Perry.  "Those guys had 27 of their 42 points.  If we are not scoring and they are, we lose our intensity on the defensive end.  We have to improve that."

Hemschemeier's efforts allowed the Lions to shoot 63 percent from the field and 75 percent (6-8) from three-point range in the half.  On the other end of the floor, Navy shot a respectable 45 percent but was just 1-6 from beyond the arc.

Southeastern scored the last eight points of the first half and then scored the first four of the second half to extend its lead to 46-27.  

Navy kept battling and thanks to the three-point shooting of Cam Cole drew to within 10 points at 61-51 with 7:51 remaining.  He missed a foul shot after the under-eight media timeout that would have completed a four-point play and brought the Mids to within single digits.

"We had a goal of getting the deficit under 10 at eight minutes," said Perry.  "The guys bought into that.  Cam Cole gave us a big spark.  We really started to get some stops.  We were able to get three stops in a row multiple times and limit them on the offensive glass.  That allowed us to run in transition a little more."

The Mids came up with a defensive stop, which was followed by a basket from Austin Benigni.  Another stop was quickly followed by Benigni being fouled.  He made both free throws and it was a 61-55 game with 7:01 on the clock.

Yet another defensive stop by Navy ensued.  Cole then missed what would have been his fourth triple on four tries after halftime, but the Mids grabbed the offensive board and sent the ball to Aidan Kehoe who scored while being fouled.  He missed the free throw attempt, but it still was a 61-57 game at the 6:07 mark.

Mike Woods drew a charge to end the next Southeastern possession without an attempt.  Navy went right back to Benigni, who scored in the lane to make it a two-point game with 5:22 on the clock. The Lions again didn't off a shot as they were whistled for a traveling violation.  Benigni again made a nifty move to shake free from his defender and sink a short jumper that tied the game at 61-61 with 4:29 still to play.

The teams traded missed field goals, then the Lions missed another attempt but were fouled on the rebound.  That sent Makhi Myles to the line where he missed the front end of the bonus,  The rebound was knocked out of bounds off of Southeastern with 3:10 remaining.

Navy brought the ball over halfcourt and Benigni tried a floater from just inside the foul line that barely fell short, with the miss being grabbed by the Lions with 2:53 left.  Southeastern then saw Isaiah Gaines make a jumper on the other end to break the tie at 63-61 with 2:30 remaining,

Benigni was called for a traveling violation after he caught a pass in the front court, and that was followed by Hemschemeier making his seventh three-point basket of the game to stretch the lead to 66-61 with just under two minutes left on the clock.

Navy missed a three-point shot, but received the ball back following a Southeastern turnover.  Benigni would be fouled on another drive with 1:08 still to play.  He made both attempts to make it a 66-63 game.

Southeastern chose to run time off the clock and its possession ended with a missed three-point shot that was grabbed by Navy.  Benigni was promptly fouled in the back court with 38.9 seconds left.  He again was 2-2 from the line and it was a one-point game at 66-65.

The Lions called timeout with 28.1 seconds on the game clock and 20 remaining on the shot clock.  After receiving the inbounds pass from the sideline, a pressured Seth Jones dribbled into the back court to give the ball to Navy with 24.9 seconds left to play.  Benigni drove the lane but while doing so had the ball knocked loose.  A whistle during the scramble that could have easily gone Navy's way instead turned into a foul on the Mids with 12.5 seconds left.

Jeremy Elyzee walked to the other end of the floor for Southeastern.  He made the first foul shot but missed the second.  A long carom ensued that was grabbed by his teammate Kyle Edison, who was quickly fouled with 10.7 seconds remaining.  Edison made both attempts to make it a four-point game. 

Benigni missed a jumper with four seconds left that was snared by the Lions.

Navy held Southeastern to 43 percent shooting after halftime, but Navy made just 41 percent of its attempts in the second stanza.  The Lions ended the game shooting 53.3 percent while the Mids made 42.9 percent of their shots.  Those numbers included Southeastern making 9-15 (60%) of its three-point shots and Navy just 4-14 (28.6). 

Also, Southeastern held a 32-26 advantage on the glass while Navy committed 12 turnovers and forced 17.

Benigni led Navy with 24 points, Cole scored all 13 of his points after halftime and Woods tallied 10 points to go along with six rebounds.

"We still have a long way to go and we have to get back to work on Monday and Tuesday and try to get a road win Wednesday at Delaware State," said Perry.