EMMITSBURG - Mount St. Mary's forward Jason Epps had a game to remember last night, and teammate Chris Sumner had a shot that Navy would like to forget.
Epps was perfect from the field in scoring a career-high 16 points, while Sumner hit an off-balance, 25-foot three-pointer with 1:44 left to give Mount St. Mary's the lead for good in a 70-69 victory over Navy before 1,782 at Knott Arena.
Mount St. Mary's (5-3) is off to its best start after eight games since joining the NCAA's Division I in 1989.
In addition to his career-high, 16-point, five-rebound effort, Sumner had no turnovers in 36 minutes at guard. But his three-pointer was the game's big play.
Navy (4-8) had come back from a nine-point deficit a few minutes earlier to tie the game at 64 on Jason Jeanpierre's three-point shot with 2:32 left. On the big play, Sumner grabbed a loose ball that trickled to him near the Mount's bench, turned and put up a shot that banked off the glass and in, just beating the shot clock.
"It was a prayer and it went in," he said with a laugh. "I just kind of heaved it up. I'll take the points."
Navy twice cut the lead to one in the final minute, but the Mount hung on and repaid the Midshipmen for a stinging, 95-54 loss last year. Epps - who had scored just 12 points in the team's first seven games - said the team had that loss on its mind.
"We were talking about it all week," Epps said. "We came out with fire because we lost by 41 last year."
The Mount could have taken control of the game much earlier if not for a poor night at the free-throw line. It made just 10 of 22 foul shots.
"I'm always happy to get a win, but it shouldn't have been that close," Mount St. Mary's coach Jim Phelan said. "If we had hit our free throws, it [would have helped]. But, hey, we got the job done."
Navy continued to struggle. Scott Long had 23 points, including going 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, but fouled out late. Jeanpierre added 16 and Marcell Cummings had 14, but the Midshipmen had several dry spells that Mount St. Mary's took advantage of.
"It was a really tough loss for us, but we're used to losing," Navy coach Don DeVoe said. "We committed too many mistakes."