Feb. 27, 2003
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (www.navysports.com) - Senior guard Jason Jeanpierre scored a career-high 29 points, while junior guard Kwame Ofori scored a career-high 19 as Navy (7-19, 3-10 in the Patriot League) rallied to upset Lafayette (12-14, 6-7 in the Patriot League) 79-74, in front of 1,870 fans at Alumni Hall on Thursday night.
Jeanpierre made nine of his 15 field goal attempts and was 6-10 from behind the three-point line, while Ofori was 7-11 from the field and 5-8 from behind the three-point stripe.
The Mids trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half and were down nine with 9:15 left before rallying for their first victory in seven tries.
Jeanpierre scored five straight points to cut the lead to four and then, after Mike Farrell made two free throws to put Lafayette back up by six, Ofori scored on a layup and assisted on a Francis Ebong layup that cut the lead to two at 67-65 with 4:31 remaining.
Ebong made one of two free throws to make it 67-66 with 4:31 left and then, after a Justin DeBerry jumper gave the Leopards a 69-66 lead, Ofori nailed a three-pointer off an assist from Jeanpierre to tie the game at 69 with 3:42 remaining.
Winston Davis scored two of his 18 points to give Lafayette back the lead at 71-69 with 3:32 left, but Ofori answered with another three-pointer to give Navy a 72-71 lead with 3:13 left.
Jeanpierre was then fouled on a three-point attempt by Mike Farrell with 1:45 left and made all three free throws to give the Mids a four-point lead at 75-71.
Lafayette, though, would not go away as Andrew Pleick scored on a layup and Rob Dill made one of two free throws with 54 seconds left to make it 75-74 Navy.
After a Navy timeout with 29 seconds left, Ofori knocked down a 15-foot jumper along the right baseline with 19 seconds remaining to give Navy a three-point lead. Taj Mathews salted the game away with two free throws with eight seconds left.
The Leopards lost despite shooting 52 percent from the field (26-50) and 44 percent from behind the three-point arc (10-23). DeBerry led Lafayette with 20 points, while Dill added 14.
