They say it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season and that old adage proved true when it came to the Bucknell-Navy men’s basketball series.
Junior point guard Austin Benigni scored almost all of his 24 points from the free-throw line as No. 5 Navy upset top-seeded Bucknell, 83-77, in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals on Sunday at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Benigni only made 2 of 12 field goals but swished 20 of 22 foul shots with most of those coming down the stretch.
Sophomore point guard Jordan Pennick (Spalding) scored 15 points for Navy (15-18), which advanced to the championship game for just the second time since 2001. Sophomore guard Jinwoo Kim scored 13 points for the Midshipmen, who have won seven of their past eight games.
“I’m really, really proud of our team. We showed a lot of grit, a lot of mental and physical toughness,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “Our players fought really hard and showed great resilience. We live to fight another day.”
Navy will play at second-seeded American Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Patriot League Tournament final for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Midshipmen are seeking their first conference championship since 1998.
Navy swept the regular-season series with American, winning 81-58 at Alumni Hall in Annapolis on Dec. 2 and 68-60 at Bender Arena in Washington on Feb. 28. The Midshipmen have proven themselves road warriors in the postseason and will try to win their third straight game on the home court of a higher seed.
“It will be a tough game. We beat [American] a couple times, but this is a whole different scenario now,” DeChellis said. “Our kids will go in there with confidence. You need to beat another good team to win a championship and cut down the nets, and that’s the way it should be.”
Junior forward Donovan Draper had a strong all-around game with 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Junior forward Mike Woods came off the bench to contribute 10 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Junior center Noah Williamson totaled 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots for Bucknell (18-15), which swept Navy during the regular season. Junior guard Achile Spadone amassed 21 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Bison, who had a seven-game winning streak end.
Navy used pretty much the same formula it did to upset Boston University in the quarterfinals on Thursday night. The Midshipmen came out aggressively on defense and made it difficult for the Bison to run their offense.
“That’s been our theme defensively — trying to be as aggressive as we possibly can. We’re trying to deny the ball and get into guys,” DeChellis said. “Our guys rotated, our guys got hands on balls and our guys challenged shooters.”
DeChellis applied full-court pressure early on, forcing Bucknell to work to get the ball into its offensive end while taking time off the shot clock.
“Bucknell runs a million set plays, so I didn’t want them to be able to walk the ball up the court and get into their half-court offense,” DeChellis said.
Navy led for 35 1/2 minutes in becoming the first team to beat Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion since St. Bonaventure did so on Dec. 4. The Bison only led for 1:35 late in the second half.
Kim and Draper combined to score 17 points to help Navy take a 36-33 halftime lead. Woods provided a spark off the bench with six points, three rebounds and three steals for the Mids.
Draper made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to spark an 8-3 run that put Navy ahead 16-8 at the 12:30 mark. Woods had a steal on one end then hustled downcourt to convert a layup on the other to spark another surge that gave Navy its largest lead at 24-13.
Following a slow start, Williamson picked up the pace offensively and scored 12 points with his two-handed dunk cutting the deficit to three at intermission. Spadone scored eight points in the first half for the Bison, who fell behind just over four minutes into the game and were in catch-up mode the rest of the way.
Kim hit a 3-pointer in the first minute of the second half and Navy steadily rebuilt its lead back to double digits. Pennick scored seven points in a short span capped by a triple from the corner.
Benigni became more aggressive driving to the basket, drawing a foul and making both free throws then converting a 3-point play after getting hacked while hitting a pull-up jumper in the lane.
Junior center Aidan Kehoe used two fakes before making a half hook that gave Navy its largest lead of the game, 55-43. However, Kehoe fouled out a minute and a half later, depriving Navy of its only defender with the size to match up with Williamson.
Bucknell immediately went inside to Williamson, who had a 9-inch height advantage on Woods. Williamson made back-to-back short jumpers as the Bison began to rally. That prompted DeChellis to insert 6-foot-7 senior Mitch Fischer, who had played four minutes over the previous six games.
Spadone hit three shots from beyond the arc as the home team went on a 15-4 run to take its first lead of the game at 60-59 with 5:55 left.
Navy weathered the storm and righted the ship. Trailing by two with just under four minutes remaining, the Midshipmen turned the tide when Draper drained a 3-pointer from the wing to give the visitors a 64-63 lead.
“Bucknell is a very good team with good players and fought back and got the lead. We didn’t blink and got the lead right back,” DeChellis said. “Draper’s shot was a really big play in the game. We were taking on water and that shot gave us a big lift.”
That proved to be the beginning of the end for Bucknell, which basically beat itself by repeatedly committing silly fouls against Benigni down the stretch. Benigni, who ranks third nationally in free throws made, buried the Bison from the charity stripe over the final 3 1/2 minutes by making 17 of 17 free throws.
“Austin is a really good free-throw shooter, especially at crunch time,” DeChellis said. “I’m not the brightest guy in the world, but I know if we get the ball in Austin’s hands he has a pretty good chance of making his free throws. He welcomes the pressure at that moment of the game.”
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Patriot League Tournament final
Navy at American
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 1430 AM