HAMDEN, Conn. -- Quinnpiac's (7-2) Matt Balanc was 10-10 from the foul line in the last three minutes of the game to lift the Bobcats to a 71-68 win over the Navy men's basketball team (2-6), Friday night at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Conn.

Tonight's three-point loss follows a 79-77 overtime loss for the Mids at George Washington Tuesday night.

After the score was tied at 10-10 midway through the first half, it was either tied or Quinnipiac had a lead of between one and three points over the next seven minutes.  The Bobcats closed the half on a 10-4 run to take a 30-23 lead at the break.

The Mids closed to within two points at 32-30 early in the second half before the Bobcats opened a 39-30 lead.  Again Navy made it a two-point game at 41-39, but again Quinnipiac responded by taking a 49-41 advantage.  It was an eight-point game at 51-43 when the Mids were able to winnow the deficit to 51-49 with just over eight minutes still to play.

The Bobcats soon built a 57-51 lead when the Mids went on a 7-0 run to jump in front, 58-57, with 3:24 left on the clock.  Austin Benigni hit a three-point field goal to start the run, then he recorded a steal and scored on a layup.  After an empty possession in which the Mids had two shots, Mike Woods recorded a steal and Donovan Draper scored on the ensuing possession to account for the last points in the spurt.

Quinnipiac scored seven points on its next three possessions to regain a 64-58 lead with 2:00 left in the game.  Back came the Mids with a three-point play from Austin Inge and an Inge steal that led to a Draper layup that made it a 64-63 score with 49 seconds left.

The Mids fouled Balanc and he made both foul shots to make it a 66-63 game.  The Bobcats fouled the Mids twice on the next possession, the latter of which sent Draper to the charity stripe with 37 seconds left.  He missed the front end of the bonus, with the carom being grabbed by Quinnipiac.  Forced to foul, the Mids sent Savion Lewis to the line with 28 seconds remaining.  He made the first shot but missed the second, which made the score 67-63.

Benigni scored six seconds later to cut the lead in half, 67-65.  Navy again sent Balanc to the line with 17 seconds left and he returned the game to a four-point difference (69-65).  Benigni was fouled with 13 seconds left.  His first attempt was good (69-66), but his second was no good.  However, Inge snared the offensive board and Navy called timeout with eight seconds left.  When play resumed, Benigni was fouled with just one second ticking off the clock.  This time he made both attempts to make the score 69-68 with seven seconds remaining.

Navy fouled Balanc with five seconds left.  He completed a 13-13 effort from the foul line -- with all of his attempts coming in the second half -- to push the margin back to three points at 71-68.  Balanc then ended the game with a steal.

Navy started the game shooting 28 percent from the field in the first half, but doubled that to 56 percent in the second half.  That allowed the Mids to end the game with an overall mark of 43.1 percent (25-58).  Quinnipiac made eight fewer field goals than Navy (17-54, 31.5%) and made one more triple (6-5), but the Bobcats were 31-36 (86.1%) from the foul line and the Mids were 13-19 (68.4%).  

Quinnipiac also held leads of 11-6 in offensive rebounds and 40-33 in total rebounds.  Each team had 14 turnovers.

Kam Summers and Benigni each scored 16 points for the Mids.  That total set a new career high for Summers and gave Benigni seven-straight games with at least 10 points.  Inge ended the game with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Navy now takes a break in its schedule for exams and will return to the hardwood on Dec. 17 when it plays host to Washington (Md.).