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Navy men’s basketball suffers third straight loss, 74-63, to visiting Quinnipiac

Navy men’s basketball just can’t seem to find a winning formula this season.

Coach Ed DeChellis wants to play at a faster pace because Navy has tremendous depth. The Midshipmen met that mandate through four games and were averaging 70.2 possessions per game, easily the most of the DeChellis era (2011 to present).

However, playing an up-tempo style has resulted in a lot of high-scoring games and Navy was giving up 81.5 points per game. DeChellis challenged his team to take more pride in playing defense after the Mids allowed 90 and 86 points in back-to-back losses.

On Tuesday night at Alumni Hall, Navy played at a slightly slower pace and defender better. It still was not enough to produce a win.

Junior forward Amarri Monroe scored 16 points to lead three players in double figures as Quinnipiac pretty much led from start to finish in beating Navy, 74-63. Senior guard Doug Young and junior guard Ryan Mabrey contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Bobcats, who beat the Mids for the second straight season.

Graduate student guard Savion Lewis totaled nine points and five assists for Quinnipiac (3-2), the preseason favorite in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Junior guard Sam Krist came off the bench to make 4 of 6 shots from beyond the arc in scoring a career-high 15 points for Navy, which never led in the game. Sophomore guard Jordan Pennick added 12 points for the Midshipmen (1-4), who have now lost three straight.

Navy limited Quinnipiac to 43% field goal shooting, including 29% from 3-point range, for the game. However, DeChellis pointed to the second half numbers as the Bobcats shot 50% (11-for-22) from the field and 57% from beyond the arc.

“We didn’t play well defensively in the second half again. That’s a huge problem for us,” DeChellis said.

Monroe and Mabrey drained 3-pointers on consecutive possessions early in the second half to spark a 15-7 run that gave Quinnipiac a 10-point lead, 48-38, with just over four minutes elapsed. That run proved decisive as the Bobcats kept the margin in or near double digits the rest of the way.

“You can’t get down the way we did the first five minutes of the second half. Then we’re running uphill the whole second half,” said DeChellis, who was incredulous that Quinnipiac scored 15 points in less than five minutes.

“We’re just a team that is trying to learn. Individual guys are trying to learn. That’s another learning lesson for us tonight about how we have to come out of the locker room [after halftime],” DeChellis added.

DeChellis was proud the Midshipmen snagged 17 offensive rebounds, but was dismayed they only translated those into seven second-chance points. Junior center Aidan Kehoe led Navy with a career-high 12 rebounds with five coming on the offensive end. Sophomore reserve forward Jack Medalie grabbed seven rebounds, including three offensive.

“If you had told me before the game we would get 17 offensive rebounds, I’m going to tell you we’re going to score 20 points off of those,” DeChellis said. “That’s a lot of offensive rebounds. We just didn’t get much out of them.”

Pennick and Krist made 3-pointers from the corner on consecutive possessions as Navy used a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to five, 54-49, almost midway through the second half. However, the Mids missed three shots on their next two possessions and a transition 3-pointer by Monroe quickly pushed the lead back to 10 points.

A layup by Medalie got the Midshipmen within six points four minutes later, but were then outscored 7-2 as the Bobcats took their largest lead of 11 points, 68-57, with just under four minutes remaining.

“We couldn’t make the big basket when we needed to make it,” DeChellis said.

Navy made the same amount of field goals (23) as Quinnipiac, but was overwhelmed at the foul line. The Mids committed 22 fouls and the Bobcats made 22 of 30 free throws as a result. Sophomore guard Khaden Bennett came off the bench to make 7 of 8 foul shots.

“We fouled them way too much,” said DeChellis, noting that Navy only made 9 of 17 free throws with Pennick (Archbishop Spalding) going 2-for-7.

Navy hosts Division III Washington College next Monday, then travels to Philadelphia for the Cathedral Classic being hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. The Midshipmen will play three games in three days during the event.

“We’ve got to play better individually and we’ve got to shoot the ball better. We have to execute better and make better decisions,” DeChellis said when asked the keys to turning things around. “We’re just not playing really smart right now. We made some really poor decisions with the ball down the stretch tonight.”

Young scored seven points to lead a balanced attack as Quinnipiac took a 33-31 lead into intermission. Monroe and Otieno scored six points apiece for the Bobcats, who never trailed in the first half.

Kehoe totaled six points and five rebounds for Navy, which tied the score for the third time at 29 with 3:12 remaining in the first half. Krist swished a pair of 3-pointers in scoring six of the Midshipmen’s 18 bench points in the first half.

Have a news tip? Contact Bill Wagner at bwagner@capgaznews.com, 443-534-0102 and x.com/@BWagner_CapGaz.

 


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