Greenville, S.C. – John Carter Jr. scored a game high 21 points on Sunday afternoon to lead the Navy Midshipmen to a 76-66 victory over the Furman men's basketball team in non-conference action from Timmons Arena. 

Furman drops to 3-2 on the season while the Midshipmen improve to 3-2 overall. 

Jalen Slawson poured in a career high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting for the Paladins to go with seven rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Alex Hunter was 4-of-8 from the field for 11 points and tied his season high of seven assists. Alex Williams came off the bench to score a career high 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Conley Garrison connected on three 3-pointers and finished with nine points.

Carter Jr. made 7-of-11 field goal attempts overall, 3-of-5 behind the 3-point line and four free throws for Navy to lead all players with his 21 points while pulling down five rebounds. Greg Summers and Richard Njoku contributed 15 and 14 points, respectively. Tyler Nelson recorded six rebounds and three assists.

A jumper by Hunter with 2:30 remaining in the contest cut Furman's deficit down to five points, 68-63, but the Midshipmen responded by scoring nine consecutive points over the next 2:17 to give them their largest lead of the game at 77-63 on Summers' fast break dunk. Hunter's 3-pointer with 12 seconds left put the final score at 77-66.

The teams traded baskets over the first 4:51 of the contest with Njoku giving Navy a 9-8 lead at the 15:09 mark on his layup. During that stretch, the Paladins went in front 6-4 with 16:13 to go following a free throw from Slawson. Njoku's layup sparked a 12-0 run for the Midshipmen covering just over three minutes and put them in front 19-8. Furman got to within six points twice during the first half with the last coming at 21-15 with 9:06 remaining after a layup by Williams. Navy held its largest lead of the opening half at 32-20 with 5:47 left after a 3-pointer from Carter Jr.

The Paladins closed out the first half on an 11-6 run, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Garrison, to trail 38-31 at halftime. Slawson and Williams combined for Furman's final five points with Williams' 3-pointer trimming the Midshipmen's lead down to seven heading into intermission.

The Paladins limited Navy to just one field goal during the first 6:20 of the second half as they started out scoring six of the initial eight points and were down three, 40-37, at the 13:54 mark on a layup by Williams. Slawson's and-1 opportunity got Furman to within 42-40 with 13:28 left. The Midshipmen answered with a 13-5 run and pushed their lead out to 55-45 with 9:19 to go on Summers' layup.

The Paladins stayed within eight points for the remainder of the contest and, after the run by Navy, responded with 3-pointers by Garrison and Hunter to make the score 55-51 with 7:32 to go. The Midshipmen held a seven-point advantage four times after that before going ahead 68-60 at the 2:46 mark on Jaylen Walker's 3-pointer.

Furman concluded the game shooting 44.1 percent (26-of-59) from the field and held a 10-0 advantage in second chance points and 9-4 in fast break points.

The Paladins are off until Saturday, November 27 when they travel to Spartanburg to face USC Upstate at 4 p.m. from the G.B. Hodge Center.