Inside the Numbers: Lynchburg at Queens

 

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CHARLOTTE – Most of us who have played sports – or were ever kids – have been cautioned about playing with your food.

Queens played with its food Wednesday night for much longer than it should have, and almost got banished to its room without dessert. That punishment might come later, but we won’t speculate on that part.

The Royals beat Lynchburg, 87-76, but it was more uncomfortable than making the three-and-a-half-hour drive from Turner Gymnasium to the Levine Center after drinking a Super Big Gulp. You know what happened – now, let’s go…Inside the Numbers!

• Lynchburg gets the first bullet of this piece. Period. The Hornets acquitted themselves extremely well, leading for nearly 11 minutes of the game.

“First of all, a huge hat tip to Lynchburg and Coach (Hilliary) Scott,” Queens coach Grant Leonard said after the game. “I thought their kids played phenomenally and played exceptionally hard. I was impressed with their effort.”

“We got Lynchburg’s best shot. We gave them confidence in the first half, and we ended up in a dog fight that they earned (being) in.”

• Chris Ashby had a great bounce-back effort Wednesday. The Queens guard and ASUN Preseason Player of the Year had several open looks Monday that spun off, but he booked 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting (6-of-9 from three) against the Hornets.

“I felt good,” Ashby said after the game. “I’ve always stayed the gym and stayed consistent, and my teammates found me a lot tonight.” 

 

“I think our team feeds off Chris,” Leonard added. “I thought the play where (forward) Avantae (Parker) got an offensive rebound, threw it out to Chris and Chris was at about 27 or 28 feet, that was a big play.” 

 

Some quick context about that play:  Lynchburg had snipped the Queens lead to six with just over two minutes to play and looked as if it had gotten a defensive stop. Parker snared the loose ball as it was about to head out of bounds, then flipped behind his back to Ashby, who caught the ball as he was stepping into a deep three. Scott called a timeout after the shot fell, apparently getting the sense that we did on press row that the shot was the dagger.

• Freshman guard Jordan Watford had a big game for Queens on Wednesday. The highly-touted guard from a storied program at Lancaster (S.C.) played nearly 23 minutes and tallied 16 points, hitting five field goals and five free throws. The minutes obviously proved helpful, but also proved that Watford could defend with his feet and avoid the same foul trouble that plagued him and limited his minutes Monday.
  
  “I never really had to (defend) guards at the high school level,” Watford said. “It’s an adjustment for me that I’m making, but I feel as the season goes on, I’ll progress in that way. That’s just the main thing I’m focusing on right now.”

•  Guard/forward Nasir Mann had another double-figure rebounding night, hauling in 10 caroms to go with his eight points and 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Mann drew significant praise from Leonard after the game.
  
  “Nas has been the most consistent player for us at playing Queens basketball,” Leonard said. “The constant 10-rebound games and guarding the other team’s best perimeter player – hats off to Nas. He’s really grown a lot as a player, and right now, he's probably our most important player. I know Chris is Preseason Player of the Year, but Nas has been phenomenal.”

• Lynchburg guard Michael Gray had a phenomenal night. The third-team All-ODAC selection from a year ago played 24 minutes and booked 25 points on 6-for-15 shooting. Gray added 12-of-13 free throw tries on the night. The 6-1 junior Marylander should yet again be a force to be reckoned with in ODAC play.

•  Jayson Easton and Jamarcus Brown joined Gray in doubles for the Hornets. Brown finished 6-of-11 from the deck to finish with 13 points accompanying his six boards. Easton provided 21 strong minutes off the bench, hitting 6-of-10 shots (2-of-4 from three) and 2-of-3 from the line to log 16.

• Yoav Berman joined Ashby and Watford in doubles for the homestanding Royals. Berman knocked down 5-of-11 from the field (2-of-6 from three) and 3-of-5 from the stripe to tally 15 on the night.
  
  “I thought the biggest change (between halves) was from Berman,” Leonard said. “You could see he played way harder in the second half, and they’re still college kids and they’re learning, but hopefully we learn that lesson fast, because it gets real quick. (We go to) Villanova and Duquesne, and then we’ve got to protect our home court with Sacred Heart and (UNC) Greensboro, so if we want this season to go the way we want, we’re going to learn these lessons now and not in the conference season.”

• Queens was outrebounded in both halves, with Lynchburg enjoying a 46-37 advantage on the boards. Even more disturbing to Leonard were the 17 offensive rebounds snatched by the Bees.
  
   “(Rebounding) is something we pride ourselves on, and it didn’t happen today,” Leonard said. “They had 43 misses and 17 offensive rebounds. In conference play, that’s going to get us drubbed.”

• Queens makes the trip to metro Philadelphia Saturday to take on Villanova. Leonard pulled no punches when previewing the game.

“I want to see Queens culture and Queens basketball,” Leonard said. We’re always the hardest-playing guys. We weren’t tonight – Lynchburg was – and again, credit to them.”

 

“The second thing is that we win the glass, and I don’t care if it’s a high-major opponent or not. We outrebounded Ole Miss last year. We’re going to Villanova to win the glass.”

 

“Then, we’ve got to protect the ball. We haven’t done that so far. 14 and 17 turnovers (against Winthrop and Lynchburg) isn’t going to cut it.”

 

“The last part is that we’re going to win the foul line. We won tonight, but we still put them on the foul line way too much. That’s Queens basketball – disciplined to not foul, the hardest-playing guys dominate the glass and protect the ball, and we’re going to do those things. We’re going to get better at them and it’s going to be our culture, and these guys know that. It’s preached every day.”

·       And finally, our usual point of closure:

Hustle Stats

Queens:  1.192 points per possession (73 trips), 54.8% scores, 19.2% turns

Lynchburg:  .938 points per possession (81 trips), 44.4% scores, 19.8% turns

Points off turnovers:  Queens 24, Lynchburg 11

Points in the paint:  Lynchburg 34, Queens 28

Second-chance points:  Lynchburg 22, Queens 11

Fast break:  Queens 25, Lynchburg 6

Bench:  Lynchburg 31, Queens 30

Next up:  Queens visits Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion Saturday night for a non-league game against the Wildcats. Game time is 7:00 (Eastern), with coverage over ESPN+. Lynchburg heads to Frederick, Md., to play in the Hood College Tournament. The Hornets square off with Catholic University Friday night. Tip time is set for 7:30.