ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Jordan Sugars scored 17 points and Navy held off a second-half rally by Lafayette in a 57-52 win Saturday night.
The Midshipmen (9-17, 4-6 Patriot League) led by as many as 17, 38-21, early in the second half.
Navy was then outscored 31-16 over the next 16:43 as Lafayette cut it to two, 54-52, on Tony Johnson's layup. The Leopards (10-15, 5-5) had a chance to tie it after Rob Delaney's steal, but Jim Mower missed a layup with 22 seconds left.
Navy's O.J. Avoworo made 1 of 2 free throws with 20 seconds remaining, and made two more 10 seconds later to seal it.
The Midshipmen, ranked last in the country in rebounding margin (minus-11.7), outrebounded Lafayette 34-32. They had been outrebounded by at least 20 in each of their previous three games and have lost the battle of the boards to 33 of its past 36 Division I foes.
Jared Mintz led Lafayette with 17 points.
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