The Navy men’s basketball team shook off its rust following a week of taking end-of-the-semester final exams with a 93-54 victory over Washington (Md.), Sunday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.
The victory by the Mids in what was their only home game in a 36-day span improved their record on the year to 7-4. The Shoremen, who compete on the NCAA Division III level, considered this an exhibition game that will not count toward their season record.
Lysander Rehnstrom (So., Reston, Va.) paced the Navy offense with a career-high 13 points on 5-6 shooting from the field and a 3-4 effort from three-point range.
“We were in finals all week,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “These guys, rightfully so, were focused on finals. We practiced very little. They were stressed. We talk about that and how we were going to come out (in the game). I try and relate it to their daily lives and what they are going to do in the Navy and Marine Corps. You are going to have stressful times and how you fight through them is very important.
“I thought we came out of the game pretty good in the first half. We shared the ball well (16 assists on 22 made field goals in the first half) and we made open shots.”
Navy started the game 8-8 and 10-12 from the field in taking leads of 18-9 and 25-11. Eight different Mids scored as part of the game-opening outburst, with Sean Yoder (Sr., Dublin, Pa.) leading the team with eight points during that run.
Washington soon closed to within nine points at 25-16, but Navy answered with a 12-0 and 28-3 spurt that boosted it to a 53-19 lead.
The Mids led by at least 30 points over the final 23 minutes of the game.
Navy ended the afternoon shooting 61.7 percent from the floor (37-60), which included an 11-26 effort (42.3%) from three-point range. The Mids held the Shoremen to a 32.7 percent (18-55) shooting game overall, and an 11-34 (32.4%) showing from beyond the arc.
The Mids also held a 40-22 edge on the glass, scored 48 of their points in the paint and had a 16-0 advantage in fastbreak points.
“Execution wise,” said DeChellis, “We didn’t get a whole lot of practice time but I thought we executed okay offensively. I thought we shot the ball pretty well.
No Mid played as many as 19 minutes in the game that saw 16 players take to the court and 13 players score.
In addition to the 13 points by Rehnstrom, Yoder scored 12 points and Christian Jones (Sr., Bowie, Md.) accounted for 10 points. Additionally, Tyler Nelson (Sr., Monroe, N.C.) totaled eight points, seven rebounds and three assists in just over 15 minutes of playing time.
Navy will close its pre-league schedule with a Wednesday night game at VCU.