ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Men's basketball continued the conference slate with a 71-70 loss to Navy on Sunday afternoon in Alumni Hall. The Leopards led 70-69 in the final seconds before Navy's Donovan Draper was credited with the game-stealing mid-range jumper.

Freshman Caleb Williams paced three Leopards in double figures with 17 points and five rebounds, shooting 4-of-8 from long range. Andrew Phillips (15) and Justin Vander Baan (13) contributed on both sides of the ball, grabbing eight and nine rebounds, respectively.

The Maroon and White shot 46 percent from the floor overall, but just 58.3 percent from the line on 12 attempts.

The Leopards knocked down a trio of 3-pointers, two by Caleb Williams, to start the first half on top, 9-4 at 15:35. Navy then hit its stride, making a 17-4 run by the nine-minute mark to steal the lead, 21-13.

Even play preceded the Midshipmen's 35-26 advantage at 3:39. Austin Benigni's four points extended the host's lead to eight, 41-33 at halftime.

Lafayette steadily followed Navy in the opening minutes of the second half, working to close the gap. At 12:31, Vander Baan and Malik Rasul combined for eight points to put the Leopards in position, one point behind the Midshipmen, 53-52.

Vander Baan added seven points over the next seven minutes to help Lafayette regain the lead for the first time since the initial half, 70-65 by 2:24.

A Lafayette turnover and personal foul at the one-minute mark allowed Navy's Jinwoo Kim two foul shots, closing in on the Leopards, 70-67.

Navy kept the Maroon and White at bay during its next offensive possession and created a back-to-back opportunity from the line, this time as two successful shots for Aidan Kehoe to trail by one, 70-69.

Head coach Mike McGarvey called a timeout to draw up the final play, but Lafayette was called for a five-second violation on on the in-bound pass, which gave Navy another chance.

Draper's game-winning 3-pointer with five seconds on the clock gave way to the 71-70 decision as Lafayette was unable to get a shot off in the remaining 2.1 seconds.

Draper led Navy, which shot 71 percent from the charity stripe, with 17 points and nine rebounds. Lafayette out-rebounded the hosts 38-32, including a 10-8 margin on the offensive glass. 

Next up, the Leopards travel to Bucknell on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

 
For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.