12/22/2001 - Men's Basketball
Navy Falls To Columbia In Overtime
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LAIE, Hawaii-Mike McBrien's three-point play with eight seconds remaining in overtime gave Columbia (7-4) a 74-72 victory over Navy (2-8) in the seventh place game at the Yahoo Invitational. Navy's Jehiel Lewis missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have given Navy the win.
The Mids were awful in the first half, falling behind 17-1 in the first six minutes of the game. Navy did not make its first field goal until the 10:45 mark when Lewis hit a lay-up to make it 18-6. The lead ballooned to 20 at the 6:26 mark when Derrick Mayo's lay-up made it 32-12. The Mids managed to close the margin to 13 at the half at 37-24, as Jason Jeanpierre made three three-pointers and Demond Shepard one over the final six minutes.
"This team doesn't seem to want to play until they dig themselves in a big hole," said Navy head coach Don DeVoe. "Until we learn to play 40 minutes we aren't going to win any games."
The Mids started chipping away at the Columbia lead, closing the margin to three at the 13:59 mark when Jason Fernandez hit two free throws. Lewis and Francis Ebong contributed four points apiece in Navy's 15-5 run to start the second half.
Navy finally was able to tie the game with 1:03 remaining when Quintrell McCreary scored off an assist from Shepard to make it 64-64. Columbia's Derrick Mayo missed a three-pointer with 32 seconds left, but McBrien got the offensive rebound and Craig Austin gave the Lions a two point lead with seven seconds remaining when he hit a shot just inside the three-point line. Navy took the ball out of bounds and Shepard drove the length of the court and scored at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
"That was a great play be Demond," said DeVoe. "He did what you are supposed to do, they didn't want to foul him so he just drove it to the basket."
Navy looked like it had the game under control in the overtime session, as Ebong scored on a lay-in to put the Mids up two, Jamie Nero hit a turnaround jumper from 15 feet away to give the Mids a 70-66 lead and Lewis hit on a driving lay-in with 1:11 left to give the Mids a 72-66 lead.
Columbia's Treg Duerksen hit a three-pointer to make the score 72-69 with 57 seconds left and after Shepard missed two free throws, Craig Austin scored to make it 72-71. Columbia then tried to foul Jamie Nero and, despite being pushed out of bounds, the officials said Nero stepped out of bounds and gave the ball back to Columbia. McBrien then scored in the paint with eight seconds remaining and was fouled by McCreary. McBrien made the free throw to put Columbia up 74-72. DeVoe, like at the end of regulation, elected not to take a timeout and Lewis missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
"I didn't feel like we needed a timeout," said DeVoe. "I would have liked to seen us drive the ball instead of taking the three-pointer, but if the shot goes down we go home happy so I can't get that upset about him taking a three in that situation. I am proud of the way we battled back, but we can't keep falling behind like that. Give Columbia credit, they made the plays when they had too."
Lewis led Navy with 16 points, while Jeanpierre scored 14 points; Shepard added 12 and Ebong 10. Ebong had game-high seven rebounds, while Shepard had five assists.
Austin, who was the Ivy League Player of the Year last year, scored game-high 25 points, while Joe Case scored 15, Derrick Mayo 13 and Duerksen added 11.
Navy, off to its worst start in 12 years, will play host to Belmont on Dec. 28 in a 7:30 p.m. contest.
