Navy beats American 77-67 on Abdullah's career night

Feb 7, 2019, 02:13 am

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Hasan Abdullah scored a career-high 23 points with six rebounds and six assists and Navy scored seven unanswered points in the final 1:17 to beat American 77-67 on Wednesday night.

George Kiernan added 17 points with four 3-pointers for the Midshipmen (8-14, 5-6 Patriot League), who were outscored 46-28 in the paint but made nine 3-pointers to the Eagles' four.

American tied it three times before taking a 49-48 lead on Larry Motuzis' layup with 12:31 to play and the lead traded hands until Kiernan's 3 and layup put Navy up 60-55 with 8:30 left. The Eagles closed to 66-65 on Sa'eed Nelson's layup but Abdullah's bucket sparked an 11-2 run and Navy won going away.

The Midshipmen scored eight straight in the first half and led 33-27 at halftime as neither team had a double-digit lead.

Nelson scored 24 points with nine rebounds and six assists for American (12-10, 6-5), which saw its four-game win streak end. Mark Gasperini added 13 points.