ANNAPOLIS — The Navy men’s basketball team has made steady progress under coach Ed DeChellis, who just completed his seventh year with the Midshipmen.
But Navy had a quick end to its season here Thursday night, as the No. 3 seed Midshipmen fell to No. 6 seed Holy Cross 81-65 in the Patriot League quarterfinals. Navy ended the season 20-12 overall — the first time in 18 years they won that many games.
“I thought Holy Cross played great. Defensively, we weren’t very good,” DeChellis said. “Any time a team shoots 73 percent in the second half and 67 for the game it means you weren’t very good defensively.”
Navy had won the last four games at home against Holy Cross, and also beat them in the Patriot League tourney last season in Annapolis. Navy also won by 35 points in Worcester last month in regular-season play. Holy Cross will now play Sunday in the semifinals against No. 2 seed Colgate.
Navy was one of three schools in Maryland that lost in its conference tournament Thursday. Maryland lost in New York to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Conference tourney and Loyola of Baltimore also lost in the Patriot League tourney to Lafayette.
Another state school, Coppin State of Baltimore, lost in its regular-season finale Thursday to Howard 78-71. Coppin State will play Tuesday in the MEAC tournament in Norfolk against North Carolina Central while Howard will face Florida A & M the same day.
The four seniors for Navy this year won 68 total games and 38 league contests over the last four seasons.
“It’s been such an enjoyable ride with these guys,” Navy senior Tom Lacey said. “We’ve been through it all. Literally blood, sweat and tears. And ultimately we did not reach our goal, which is tough.”
Shawn Anderson, an all-league player this season for Navy, ended his career with 1,344 points. That is tied for 15th on the all-time school list and he played in 125 games, which ranks fourth.
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