ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Having led by 25 at halftime and for nearly 38 minutes in the game, the Bryant University men's basketball surrendered a furious rally in the second half, as Navy erased the deficit and pulled off a wild victory in Alumni Hall, 76-74, Tuesday night.

"This is obviously a tough loss for us, but it wasn't a conference loss which is what I tried to get my guys to understand after the game," said head coach Tim O'Shea. "We have such a young team, starting three freshmen and two sophomores right now, so hopefully we can learn from this and use it as needed experience."

Freshman Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) had a career-high 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting to lead all scorers while also having four boards and five assists. Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) had 21 point and five boards and Marcel Pettway (North Providence, R.I.) tallied eight points and 13 rebounds.

Tom Lacey paced Navy with 16 points and a contest-best 17 rebounds, 11 on the offensive side. George Kiernan netted 14 points, Zach Fong and Bryce Dulin each had 12 and Shawn Anderson had nine points all in the second half to go along with eight boards.  

After the Bulldogs (3-7) stormed to a 49-24 halftime lead, the Midshipmen (4-6) came out the aggressors in the second half and navigated up and down both sides of the floor. They got to within 12 points with a 13-0 run to open up the second half that was led by eight points from Dulin, making it 49-37 less than four minutes in.

After Pettway gave Bryant its first points of the stanza at the 16:00 mark, Kiernan scored five-straight points to cut the margin to single digits for the first time since the 15:30 mark of the first half. Navy was able to get it down to as little as five following seven-straight points, making it 54-49 with 12:20 to play.

Freshman Sabastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) capped off a 12-4 run over the next four minutes, as the visitors looked to have found their pace and once again taken control of the game. But a Tim Abruzzo triple on the following possession ignited a 13-4 run over a span of nearly five minutes to get the game down to just one, 70-69, at the 3:14 mark.

Anderson had six points in the stretch, including two layups, as forward Gus Riley (Nelson, New Zealand) and Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) had fouled out to limit the interior presence for Bryant's defense.

Grant slashed into the paint, received a handoff from Pettway and laid it in with 1:34 to go, giving Bryant a 72-69 lead. Kiernan drove to the rack on the next trip, as Townes moved out of the way on the attempt trying to avoid picking up his fifth foul, but the shot was short. Upon going for the rebound, Townes was whistled for his final foul, sending Kiernan to the line where he made both shots to make it 72-71 with 1:11 to play.

"It was tough for us being in foul trouble once again and missing size down low with three guys fouling out," said O'Shea. "But credit Navy for hitting their shots and fighting back which I knew they would."  

After a miss for the Bulldogs, the Midshipmen got their first lead of the night on a Lacey layup with just under 40 seconds, but Grant and company quickly moved down the floor and the rookie buried a jumper with 26 seconds remaining to put his team on top, 74-73.

But it was Anderson's second half, as he took it hard to the rim with the lack of size for Bryant and confidently laid it in with 13 seconds on the clock. On the ensuing possession, Zouzoua drove to the hole but a defender slid to the left and got a charge call, handing Navy the ball with 7.9 to play. Anderson was fouled on the inbounds and hit just one of his two foul shots. Grant had a good look at an 18 footer in the final seconds, but the jumper hit back iron and Navy completed the comeback.  

"We unfortunately couldn't make that shot at the end, but college basketball these days is very back and forth all across the nation," said O'Shea. "We certainly got tentative when they got hot and made the run, but being in their building they fed off the crowd and earned the great win. It's a tough loss for us certainly, but we just need to learn from it and move on."

The Bulldogs enjoyed their best start of the season to take an early double-digit lead. After baskets from both sides on their opening possessions, Bryant went on a 17-0 run to take a commanding lead at the 11:21 mark.

The Midshipmen turned the ball over six times during the stretch and were held without a bucket for nearly eight minutes before Fong netted a triple. But the visitors continued to lead by no less than 12 for the next 5:52, when Kiernan drilled a triple from 25 feet away to make it 31-20.

Zouzoua answered with a three of his own to spark an 18-4 run over the final five minutes, as he and the Bulldogs held the Midshipmen without a field goal and took a commanding 49-25 lead into the locker room prior to the script completely flipping in the final 20 minutes.

The Bulldogs return to the Chace Athletic Center to take on New Hampshire this Saturday, Dec. 10 at 4:00 p.m.