Anderson rallies Navy to 73-68 win over Columbia

Dec 10, 2017, 09:01 pm

NEW YORK -- Shawn Anderson scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his first double-double and Navy rallied in the second half on Sunday to edge Columbia 73-68 for its fifth-straight win.

Hasan Abdullah added 16 points and Evan Wieck 14 as the Midshipmen (9-3) erased an 18-point first-half deficit. It was the second largest comeback in school history. Navy defeated Bryant last season after trailing by 25.

Columbia (1-9) led 31-13 with 6:44 to go in the first half as a Myles Hanson 3-pointer capped an 11-0 run. Mike Smith scored the first eight, including back-to-back treys. Abdullah's 3 capped a 9-3 Navy surge in less than 90 seconds that cut the gap to 40-32 at the break.

Wieck scored six straight for Navy, tying the game at 42 less than four minutes into the second half. Bryce Dulin's dunk at 15:03 gave them their first lead, 46-44, but Columbia scored the next 10.

Abdullah's jumper tied it at 64 and Anderson scored the next four to complete an 8-0 run that gave Navy the lead for good, 68-64, with 33 seconds left.

The Midshipmen made 4 of 5 free throws in the last 20 seconds to seal the win.

Smith had 28 points for the Lions on 11-of-15 shooting with four 3s and Hanson had a career-high 14.