Quinnipiac outlasts Navy despite late execution issues

By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)

HAMDEN, Conn. — No one ever questioned the effort when Quinnipiac dueled out a gritty 71-68 win over Navy. But as far as the execution goes, both teams will likely see much better days on that front and will prefer to leave this one behind them permanently when looking back on the non-conference schedule.

When Savion Lewis emerged with a 3-pointer with 3:04 left to put the Bobcats back on top, it felt like that was the death blow for a hard-working Midshipmen team who had to overcome turnover adversity just to stay in the game. However, the resilience of Navy’s guards kept the visitors in it, and a sloppy final minute for Quinnipiac almost allowed them to steal the game.

Four straight free throws from Matt Balanc pushed Quinnipiac’s lead to six at the two-minute mark before things started to unravel for the Bobcats. Paul Otieno coughed one up to Austin Inge, who came back down and tossed up an acrobatic floater that went in, drawing a foul on Alexis Reyes. Then, on the ensuing inbounds, Reyes threw a pass that was intercepted by Inge and led to a quick basket for Donovan Draper. That made it a one-point game seemingly out of nowhere, and to boot, Navy’s Austin Benigni was just getting started.

Benigni put constant pressure on Quinnipiac during the second half and reached its apex in the final minute of regulation. With the Bobcats back up four on the help of free throws, Benigni raced down the floor and caught the Bobcats’ defense sleeping on his way for an easy layup that cut the lead to two. Balanc would calm the tension in the air temporarily by hitting two more free throws that stretched the lead back to four with 17 seconds left, but just as Quinnipiac had did at many stages in this game, the hosts again committed another foul to send Benigni back to the free throw line. Thanks to missing his second free throw, and with Inge grabbing the offensive rebound on the miss, the Midshipmen had the ball in their hands down three with 13 seconds left.

From there, Quinnipiac smartly played the game of intentionally fouling Benigni after six seconds came off the clock. That was when Balanc took matters into own hands, nailing his final two free throws and then coming away with the steal on the game’s final possession to seal the win.

“I’m just thinking about getting stops and making the right play on defense,” said Balanc, who finished with a game-high 18 points and made his last 10 free throws over the final 2:33. As Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora said, it was the little things that hurt the Bobcats in the waning moments. All said, that final minute-plus for Quinnipiac featured three turnovers, five fouls, a lane violation, and a missed free throw.

“It’s those little things, you have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s, and hopefully it’s a lesson learned,” Pecora said about his team’s crunch time mistakes. 

Quinnipiac led by as many as nine early in the second half, thanks to fouling by Navy and the carryover from the Midshipmen’s turnover problems for much of the first half. Ten straight points, including two threes from freshman Rihards Vavers, had the Bobcats holding firm up eight with 10:32 left. Quinnipiac had its own turnover woes in the second half, including consecutive miscues by Lewis that kept the door open for the Navy comeback.

“He’s been sick and has been playing so many minutes,” Pecora said about Lewis, who is nothing short of a workaholic for Quinnipiac. “After Monday, I’m gonna give him two days off where’s not even allowed in the gym.”

What really put the Bobcats over the top was their superb 31-of-36 showing from the charity stripe and a 40-33 edge on the boards, adding 16 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds. Despite having far from his best game, Amarri Tice led the way with nine caroms before seeing his night that started in foul trouble end with him fouling out. In an ugly game, rebounding becomes all the more important, and Quinnipiac took the lion’s share today by exploiting Navy’s smaller lineup.

“I wrote defense plus rebound equals run,” Pecora said. “We can talk about the analytics and all the beautiful offense we try to run, but if you want to win championships, you have to defend and rebound the basketball without turning it over.”

The beauty of college basketball is that you can be left almost incredulous by one bad half of basketball and then be amazed by other moments. That was certainly the case in the first half, with Quinnipiac misfiring on 13 of its first 15 shots of the field while the defense hustled to make up for it. It seemed like Quinnipiac did not look for Otieno enough, even though he made the most of his opportunities when they were presented and finished with 13 points. The ending left many amazed, and with the Bobcats still questioning how they can improve despite escaping with a win. There won’t be much time to search for answers with Yale on deck for Monday night on the Bobcats’ home court.

“Can we learn from our mistakes without having to lose?” Pecora asked. “(Yale is) going to come out with their hair on fire. We are going to have to play our A-game if we are going to beat Yale.”