“We’ve got to get this offense figured out,” Navy head coach Ed DeChellis said when asked what Navy needed to do to break out of a 1-6 slide.

The Midshipmen must have found some answers during practice on Thursday and Friday.

Senior point guard Hasan Abdullah was the sparkplug early with several steals he converted into layups while junior center Evan Wieck got things going in the second half as Navy looked like a completely different team on offense in beating Loyola Maryland, 71-68, before an announced crowd of 1,554 at Alumni Hall.

Abdullah was active in the passing lanes, took the ball strong to the basket and did a superb job of distributing in totaling 12 points, eight assists and four steals for Navy, which snapped a four-game losing streak. Wieck scored 11 of his 13 points after intermission and also grabbed seven rebounds for the Midshipmen, who improved to 7-14 overall and 4-6 in the Patriot League.

“I think one of the biggest things we did was focus on making the extra pass and driving to score or kick to the open man and get some defensive rotations. When we make the extra pass we have guys who can hit open shots,” sophomore guard Cam Davis said when asked what the Mids worked on in practice the previous couple days.

Senior forward George Kiernan contributed 10 points and nine boards for the Navy, which has won seven of its last eight meetings with Loyola. Freshman swingman John Carter Jr. scored seven of his 10 points during a strong surge to start the second half as the Midshipmen grabbed a 20-point lead then held off a gutsy comeback by the Greyhounds.

Navy’s recent struggles coincided with a stretch of playing five of seven games on the road. Saturday’s game began a run of playing four of five at home, giving the Midshipmen an opportunity to turn things around.

“It’s good to get back home and get a win, for the players to be laughing and having the music playing in the locker room afterward,” DeChellis said. “I’m glad we won. It would have been horrible to lose it after being up by 20.”

Junior guard Andrew Kostecka notched his second career double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds for Loyola (8-15, 4-6), which came to Annapolis having won four of its last six. Sophomore guard Isaiah Hart dished off a career-best nine assists to go along with eight points and four steals for the Greyhounds, who shot a sizzling 57 percent from the field in the second half to get back into the game.

“We have a group of guys who are never going to quit. That’s one thing we’ve talked about since I first got the job: We’re going to keep fighting no matter what,” Loyola first-year head coach Tavaras Hardy said.

Abdullah turned two steals near mid-court into breakaway layups as Navy used a 10-0 run to take control early. Loyola failed to score on 13 of 16 possessions to start the game as the Mids were very aggressive on the defensive end during the opening seven-plus minutes.

“I’m proud of our kids. We came out with a lot of defensive energy, which is something we talked about. I thought we did a real good job of getting our hands on balls,” DeChellis said. “We were very active defensively. We were attacking the ball, we had high hands. I thought we made them take some tough shots, some hurried shots.”

Freshman guard Kenneth Jones swished a pair of long 3-pointers to jump-start a 13-4 run that gave Loyola a brief lead. Kostecka threw down a fastbreak dunk and made a three to close the rally, which put the visitors ahead 19-17 at the 7:06 mark.

Sophomore forward Luke Loehr came off the bench to make a nifty reverse layup and a rare 3-pointer as Navy closed the first half by scoring 11 unanswered points to take a 31-21 lead into intermission.

“I think it was great team basketball. Everybody was being unselfish, everybody was getting involved and guys were stepping up and making shots whenever they were open,” Davis said.

Carter came alive early in the second half – converting a layup, draining a three and putting back an offensive rebound – as the Mids outscored the Greyhounds 14-4 to stretch the lead to 20 points at 45-25 with just under five minutes elapsed.

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LOYOLA (MD.) (8-15): Scott 2-5 1-2 5, Hart 3-12 1-1 8, Kostecka 12-20 2-4 27, Champion 0-4 0-0 0, Andrews 1-3 0-0 2, S.Norton 1-2 0-0 2, Ochiaka 3-4 1-3 7, Jones 3-7 0-0 8, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Fives 3-6 0-0 9. Totals 28-63 5-10 68.

NAVY (7-14): Kiernan 3-14 2-2 10, Wieck 5-6 3-4 13, Carter 4-7 0-0 10, Abdullah 5-13 1-6 12, Davis 2-7 2-4 7, Njoku 0-0 0-0 0, L.Loehr 2-3 0-0 5, Ogele 0-0 0-0 0, Pearson 1-1 0-0 3, Summers 3-4 2-2 8, Strong 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 26-56 10-18 71.

Halftime—Navy 31-21. 3-Point Goals—Loyola (Md.) 7-21 (Fives 3-6, Jones 2-5, Hart 1-3, Kostecka 1-5, Andrews 0-2), Navy 9-23 (Carter 2-4, Kiernan 2-8, Pearson 1-1, L.Loehr 1-1, Strong 1-1, Davis 1-3, Abdullah 1-5). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Loyola (Md.) 25 (Kostecka 10), Navy 40 (Kiernan 9). Assists—Loyola (Md.) 18 (Hart 9), Navy 16 (Abdullah 8). Total Fouls—Loyola (Md.) 20, Navy 17. A—1,554 (5,710).