Queens continues its development, outlasts Bellarmine

 

Queens' Bryce Cash attempts a free throw during Saturday's game against Bellarmine.  (Photo:  Queens University of Charlotte Athletics)

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CHARLOTTE – In the span of roughly 48 hours, Queens had the task of shutting down two great shooters in Eastern Kentucky’s Tae Tae Blanton and Bellarmine’s Garrett Tipton. In both cases, a lot of the burden of defending those players fell on one man.

That man was a senior at Charlotte’s Carmel Christian at this time last year.

Bryce Cash’s development has largely mirrored that of his Royals. Grant Leonard’s squad started the season as a mostly young group that had not played together, and in many cases, had never played a second of Division 1 basketball. As the season has progressed, the Royals – as has Cash – have gained confidence, connected on and off the floor, and are getting back to Leonard’s signature phrase.

“Our Standard is Our Standard.”

Saturday, Cash’s defensive effort was combined with his scoring – again – and two of his mentors turned in double-digit performances to get Queens another result it direly needed. The Royals held Bellarmine –and especially Tipton, who scored 14 of his team’s first 24 – in check in the second half while finishing strong in an 85-75 win Saturday over the visiting Knights.

“Guarding guys like AJ (McKee) and Deyton (Albury) in practice every day really gets me ready for these types of moments,” Cash said after the game. “One thing I take pride in is my defense and not letting the opposing guy score on me. Blanton and (Tipton) are good players, but I take pride in my defense.”

Bellarmine (6-18, 2-7 ASUN) held just two leads in the game – the final being at 5-4 – but gave Queens the fight Leonard knew it would. The team spent much of the week preparing for the Knights while simultaneously installing the gameplan for its win against league-leader Eastern Kentucky. The Knights drew the game level at 24 just before the under-8 media break, largely on the shoulders of Tipton’s hot shooting.

Leonard blamed one man for Tipton’s sizzling start:  himself.

“I’ll take the error on that,” Leonard said. “(Bellarmine guard Bash) Wieland had been really hot lately. He had been averaging 19 per game in the league. We put Bryce on Wieland to start. That was a coach’s error. I’ll take it. When we got Bryce on Tipton, he slowed him down. That changed the game for us.”

The constant back-and-forth continued as the period unfolded. Queens (10-14, 4-5) could create no separation further than one possession except for one 30-second stretch in which the Royals led by six. The home side held a paper-thin, three-point advantage at the interval.

The Royals quickly built a nine-point lead to start the second half, using a 6-0 burst to induce a timeout from Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport. The brief reset proved beneficial for the Knights, as they worked the margin back to four at 55-51 on a Langdon Hatton three.  McKee then cashed a triple to stretch the lead back to seven, which gave Queens the cushion it enjoyed for much of the second half. The lead swelled as high as 10 at 71-61 on a pair of McKee free throws.

Then, the trademark run to which observers have grown accustomed from Davenport’s teams appeared.

Hatton canned a jumper. Peter Suder converted an and-one. Hatton hit another jumper. Dezmond McKinney canned back-to-back buckets. Suddenly, that once-comfortable double-digit lead became a tenuous, one-possession affair with 2:17 remaining.

To hear Leonard and his team speak, the Royals have been fighting of late to string together a full 40-minute contest. Part of that effort centers around finishing games. The question of how Queens would finish hung in the Curry Arena like the sounds of music and smells of food from the Homecoming celebration on the lawn outside the building.

“I just told our guys to stay with their principles,” Leonard said. “I thought we had a lot of good stuff going on, and we just needed a stop defensively. I told them that if we could get one stop, we would be good. The biggest thing was the ball screen coverage. They got away from their motion offense and into a ball-screen offense. They were trying to attack there. I thought (forward) B.J. (McLaurin) did a really good job adjusting his ball-screen coverage so he couldn’t get downhill. The rest is history, so we shall say.”

Soon enough, so too would the game be history.

Queens tore off an 8-0 run – all from the free throw line – and put away the contest from there. The Royals missed just three times in 21 tries from the stripe in the second half.

On the surface, Queens’ story this season has not been terribly different than many developing teams. The word “connected” is commonly thrown about. With these Royals, the connection is obvious.

“It’s been great,” Cash said. “Even since the summer – that’s when we first met each other and got used to each other. I feel like this is the turning point for Queens and we’re ready to take over.”

“100 percent,” said Leonard when asked if he sees the team continuing to grow its connection. “You can see it in our box scores. You can see it in our turnover numbers. Our guys have done an unbelievable job in these last two games of securing the orange and not giving it to the other team. Winning those turnover battles, for us, is a big deal. Our ability to get downhill and get to the free throw line has really put us over the top right now.”

To Leonard’s point, the Royals went 56-for-67 (83.6 percent) from the stripe in that 48-hour stretch.

Oh – and about that lingering question around putting together a full 40 minutes?

“I don’t think so,” Cash said. “We’re getting close, but it’s not a full 40 yet.”

“I’d still say we were at least eight minutes away,” Leonard added. “I think we had a couple spurts we’ve got to clean up. We’re getting closer and closer. Our guys are getting more confident in each other. Our bench has been considerably better.

“We’re getting there. I’m going to keep pushing our guys to continue to improve. We haven’t turned the corner yet – that’s what I’m going to tell them – even though we’re close. We’ll get to that full 40 here soon.”

McKee led the Royals and all scorers with 22. The Charlotte native was a standout both from the deck and at the line, hitting 6-of-11 from the field and 9-of-11 from the stripe. Albury added 19, hitting nine of his own 11 from the stripe and constantly putting foul pressure on the Knights. Cash contributed 13, booking 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line. Queens shot 51 percent (26-for-51) on the night, adding 81.8 percent (27-for-33) of its free throw tries.

Bellarmine recorded five double-digit scorers. Wieland finished with 17, hitting 6-of-12 from the field and 5-of-8 from the line. Tipton went for 16, though just two of those points came in the final 27 minutes of the game. Hatton finished with 15 on 6-for-11 shooting, with Suder missing a double-double by just one board to go with his 12 points. The Knights connected on 48.4 percent (30-for-62) of their tries but struggled from distance in hitting just 5-of-17 (29.4 percent). Bellarmine worked its way to the line just 14 times, hitting 10.

Bellarmine returns to ASUN action Wednesday night. The Knights will host Stetson at Freedom Hall in Louisville, with the ball going in the air at 6:30 (Eastern). Streaming coverage will be offered via ESPN+. Queens travels to Lipscomb to battle the Bisons Thursday evening. Tip time from Allen Arena in Nashville is set for 8:00 (Eastern). That game can also be streamed via ESPN+.

QUEENS 85, BELLARMINE 75

BELLARMINE (6-18, 2-7 ASUN)

Hatton 6-11 2-2 15, Suder 5-8 1-1 12, Tipton 6-14 1-1 16, Wieland 6-12 5-8 17, Johnson 1-4 0-0 2, McKinney 6-7 1-2 13, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Hacker 0-6 0-0 0, Roberts 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-62 10-14 75.

QUEENS (10-14, 4-5)

Sebock 2-5 0-0 4, McLaurin 3-6 2-2 8, McKee 6-11 9-11 22, Cash 5-7 3-4 13, Albury 4-9 9-11 19, Ashby 2-7 2-3 8, Pollard 2-4 0-0 4, Mathews 1-1 2-2 5, Wilson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-51 27-33 85.

Halftime:  Queens 41-38. 3-Point goals:  Queens 6-21 (Sebock 0-1, McLaurin 0-2, McKee 1-4, Cash 0-1, Albury 2-3, Ashby 2-7, Pollard 0-2, Mathews 0-1), Bellarmine 5-17 (Hatton 1-2, Suder 1-2, Tipton 3-7, Wieland 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Hacker 0-4). Fouled out:  McKinney (BU). Rebounds:  Bellarmine 35 (Suder 9), Queens 28 (McLaurin 8). Assists: Bellarmine 10 (Suder/McKinney 3), Queens 6 (Albury 3). Total fouls:  Bellarmine 21, Queens 17. Technicals:  NA.

Points off turnovers:  Queens 11, Bellarmine 3.  Points in the paint:  Bellarmine 44, Queens 38.  Second-chance points:  Bellarmine 10, Queens 5.  Fast-break points:  Queens 9, Bellarmine 8.  Bench points:  Queens 19, Bellarmine 13.