Trailing by five points with just over a minute remaining, it appeared Navy was going to lose a game it led most of the way.
Lafayette took advantage of an untimely cold stretch by Navy and was in prime position to steal a road win.
However, a wild sequence of events enabled the Midshipmen to outscore the Leopards 6-0 over the final 1:04 and pull off a miraculous comeback.
Junior forward Donovan Draper drained a mid-range jump shot with five seconds left to give Navy a thrilling 71-70 victory over Lafayette, electrifying a raucous crowd of 1,564 at Alumni Hall. Draper, who just missed a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds, was a junior at Forest Hill High in Palm Beach, Florida the last time he made a game-winning shot.
“It was like an out-of-body experience. I took the shot, it felt good and obviously it went in. I was like thank God,” Draper said of the game-winning jumper from about 16 feet.
After putting the Mids ahead, Draper had the presence of mind to block Lafayette’s Andrew Phillips shot attempt from just beyond midcourt.
“I just tried to contest it. We don’t want back-to-back miracles,” Draper said.
After the desperation heave at the buzzer fell way short, the entire Navy team dogpiled Draper in one corner of the court during a wild celebration.
Junior point guard Austin Benigni totaled 14 points and four assists for Navy (5-10), which is off to a 2-0 start in Patriot League action. Junior center Aidan Kehoe notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Midshipmen, who led for 31 of 40 minutes.
“I’m really proud of our guys. They’re starting to believe that they can win and that’s really important,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “We were down five and just had to keep making plays, extend the game and see what happens. We put ourselves in a bit of a pickle, but the kids executed down the stretch and we found a way to get out of the pickle.”
Guard Caleb Williams made four 3-pointers in scoring 16 to lead Lafayette, which outscored Navy 37-30 in the second half. Phillips finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Leopards, who made a couple costly mistakes in the final minute.
Justin Vander Baan, Lafayette’s imposing 7-foot center, was a force on both ends of the floor in totaling 13 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots.
Navy maintained a lead that fluctuated between one and six points for most of a back-and-forth second half despite being pressured throughout by Lafayette. However, the Mids missed shots on three straight possessions after the Leopards had tied the score at 65 with 3:48 remaining.
Phillips made a 3-pointer from the corner to give Lafayette a 70-65 lead at the 2:24 mark and things looked bleak for Navy after Kehoe missed a half hook in the lane on the subsequent possession.
However, Lafayette committed a turnover on its next possession and sophomore guard Jin Woo Kim made two free throws to cut the deficit to 70-67 at the 1:08 mark.
Vander Baan missed a short bank shot with 39 seconds left then fouled Kehoe on a layup attempt. That seemed like a smart foul since Kehoe is just a 30% free throw shooter.
Kehoe made the first attempt but missed the second. However, Vander Baan was whistled for a lane violation and Kehoe got another free throw, which he made to make it a one-point game (70-69) with 21 seconds to go.
“Kehoe made two big free throws. We had an end-of-game situation yesterday and he missed two free throws,” DeChellis said. “I was really happy that today he stepped up and made two.”
Navy immediately applied a trapping full-court press and Lafayette had trouble getting the ball across halfcourt, prompting coach Mike McGarvey to call timeout. The Leopards had a sideline out-of-bounds situation from the backcourt and Mark Butler was unable to find an open man, leading to a five-second violation.
Draper, who guarded the inbounds passer, was jumping up and down and waving his long arms — making it difficult for Butler to see the floor.
“Draper was up and being active and everyone else did their job. They denied like they were supposed to and the guy had nowhere to throw the ball,” DeChellis said. “Draper was good on the ball, but the other guys did a good job off the ball. If they get the ball inbounds there it’s probably the end of the story.”
DeChellis called timeout to set up a play, which was designed to get Benigni driving to the basket with his left hand. Lafayette defended the play well and Benigni wisely decided not to attempt a difficult contested runner — alertly passing the ball to Draper, who was wide-open just beyond the foul line.
“They ended up double-teaming [Benigni] and I found myself open. My teammate made the right decision by passing it and trusted me to make the open shot,” Draper said.
DeChellis also praised Benigni for adhering to the play design and looking for his second option.
“Austin made a really good play. He could have easily forced a tough shot and didn’t. Growth on his part was that he found Draper at the free throw line and had the confidence to get the ball to him,” DeChellis said.
It marked the first time Navy won on a last-second shot since Hasan Abdullah did it on January 6, 2019 against Holy Cross.
History indicated the game would be close as 14 of the last 20 meetings between the teams have been decided by single digits.
It briefly appeared the Midshipmen might alter that trend as they took an 11-point lead late in the first half. However, the Leopards responded with nice runs on either side of intermission and the contest turned into the nailbiter that has become customary in the series.
Sophomore guard Jordan Pennick (Spalding) scored all 10 of his points and Navy shot 51.5% from the field in taking a 41-33 halftime lead. Kehoe was well on his way to the double-double with nine points and seven rebounds for the Mids, who used a 13-2 run to take the lead.
Williams scored 12 points on the strength of three 3-pointers to lead Lafayette, which had used a 9-0 run to jump ahead early. The Leopards (6-9, 1-1) gave up 22 points in the paint in the first half alone.
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