Navy men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis liked a lot of what he saw from his team during Saturday’s Star game against archrival Army.
The Midshipmen went into hostile territory and displayed tremendous heart and toughness. They rallied from a nine-point deficit down the stretch to force overtime then put themselves in position to win.
Unfortunately for the Mids, the decisive play did not go their way. DeChellis could question the execution at times, but could not fault the effort.
“Our effort was unbelievable. Our passion for the game was unbelievable,” DeChellis said. “I’m really proud of the players. They fought and left it all on the floor.”
Freshman forward Josh Scovens made three free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining in overtime to give Army a 69-67 victory over Navy in front of a sellout crowd of 4,922 at Christl Arena.
Controversy surrounded the final play as Navy sophomore forward Donovan Draper was whistled for fouling Scovens as he attempted a turnaround 3-pointer. Replays showed that Draper held both arms almost straight up in the air and the minimal amount of contact was initiated by Scovens.
DeChellis declined to comment Sunday because he had not seen the CBS Sports replays that showed the play from multiple angles. Asked if Draper should not have put himself in a position where a foul could be called, the 13th-year coach said there is no easy answer.
“We tell the guys not to foul, to force them to make a shot. At the same time, you don’t want to give them a clean look,” DeChellis said. “I don’t know if it was a foul or not, but it looks to me like Drape is just trying to get his hands up as high as possible. In the heat of the moment, things just happen.”
Scovens scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Army (8-17, 4-8 Patriot League), which won the Star game for the first time since 2020. Senior forward Abe Johnson posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Black Knights, who avenged a Jan. 20 loss to the Midshipmen.
Sophomore point guard Austin Benigni scored 15 points and dished off four assists to lead Navy (8-15, 4-8), which has lost six straight. Senior guard Austin Inge added 14 points and five assists for the Mids, who have fallen to eighth place in the 10-team Patriot League.
Navy will seek to end the losing streak when it hosts American on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.
“We’ve got to pick ourselves up off the ground and continue trying to get better,” said DeChellis, noting this is an exam week at the Naval Academy. “The game after Army is really hard. We have to move on and find a way to get back on track. Hopefully, we’ll be playing our best basketball at the end of February and in March.”
Navy led 31-30 at halftime and by five points on two occasions early in the second half. The Mids went almost six minutes without a field goal, which enabled the Black Knights to build a nine-point lead.
Army held a 56-47 advantage with 3:44 remaining in regulation when Navy mounted an impressive comeback. Draper drained a 3-pointer then hit a jumper to spark a 9-0 run to close out the second half.
Junior forward Mitch Fischer made two free throws with four seconds remaining to bring the Mids even. Draper was actually fouled on the play but was injured and had to be helped to the locker room.
That turn of events might have worked in Navy’s favor as Draper is just a 58% free-throw shooter. Army was allowed to pick one of the remaining four players on the floor to shoot the free throws in place of Draper and chose Fisher, who is 72% from the charity stripe.
“We got down by nine and credit to our kids for making plays to get us back in the game. We made big shots and made free throws down the stretch,” DeChellis said.
Navy trailed 66-63 with 6.1 seconds left in overtime after Scovens made two free throws. Army purposefully fouled Benigni after he caught the inbounds pass to prevent the possibility of a 3-pointer.
Benigni calmly made both free throws to cut the deficit to one. Navy then forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass to get the ball back with five seconds to go. Benigni threw a lob pass to Draper that was deflected away by an Army defender. Mac MacDonald alertly snagged the loose ball and was fouled while attempting a shot with two seconds to go.
“We executed the press at the end of overtime and got a huge turnover,” DeChellis said.
MacDonald, who is also just a 58% free-throw shooter, made both attempts to give Navy a 67-66 lead. That seemingly didn’t leave much time for Army to get downcourt to get off a game-winning shot.
However, 6-foot-9 senior forward Charlie Peterson made a perfect baseball throw to Scovens, who caught the ball, turned around and went up for the jump shot that became the controversial foul call.
“There were plays throughout the game we could have made and didn’t. Then maybe it wouldn’t come down to the last play,” DeChellis said.
DeChellis credited Army for creating “an incredible atmosphere” at Christl Arena and it was also like that for the women’s game, which tipped off at 11 a.m.
Junior guard Trinity Hardy totaled 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Army led from start to finish in beating the Navy women, 70-58. Sophomore guard Reese Ericson made six 3-pointers in scoring 21 points for the Black Knights, who built a 13-point lead late in the first quarter and repelled every rally by the Midshipmen.
“I thought we played hard and really competed. We just made some youthful mistakes,” Navy coach Tim Taylor said.
Freshman guard Zanai Barnett-Gay scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds for Navy (8-14, 4-7), which has now lost five straight meetings with Army. Sophomore center Kate Samson came off the bench to total 16 points and nine rebounds for the Mids, who committed 20 turnovers.
Taylor was upset that so many of those turnovers were unforced with many coming when Navy tried to push the ball upcourt unnecessarily. The Mids cut the deficit to eight three times during the second half and either turnovers or bad shots prevented them from getting closer.
“It seemed like every time we cut it to eight, we made bad decisions in transition,” Taylor said. “We’re a young team, but we need to understand when it’s important to have a quality possession. There are certain times when you have to slow it down, run the offense and get a good shot. We rushed things too much.”
Freshman guard Kyah Smith contributed 13 points and seven assists for Navy, which has not beaten Army in the Star game since 2018. The Midshipmen have now lost 25 straight road games.
Navy, which sits in ninth place in the Patriot League standings, plays at American on Wednesday.
MEN
American at Navy
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: 1430 AM
WOMEN
Navy at American
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Stream: ESPN+