ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Quinnipiac opened the second half by scoring 15 points in the first four minutes to build a lead the Navy men's basketball team couldn't completely erase during a 74-63 victory by the Bobcats (3-2) over the Mids (1-4), Tuesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.
The Bobcats won the 2024 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season and were selected as the 2025 preseason favorite in the MAAC.
"They are a good team," said Navy head coach
Ed DeChellis, of Quinnipiac. "They are strong, athletic, older guys."
Quinnipiac raced out to a 9-2 lead at the start of the game, but Navy chipped way at the deficit and finally drew even at 24-24. The score would be knotted at 27-27 and 29-29 before the Bobcats took a 33-31 lead at the break.
Quinnipiac started the second half 3-3 from three-point range and 5-6 from the floor overall to take a 48-38 lead four minutes into the frame.
"We didn't play well in the second half defensively," said DeChellis. "The first four minutes of the second half, they (Quinnipiac) scored 15 points. That happened (to us) a few games ago. That is a huge problem for us.
"The first half defensively I thought we were pretty good, other than some box outs. The second half they shot 50 percent from the floor and 57 percent from three. That's really hard to win (when you allow that). The numbers for the game don't look real bad, but in the second half we weren't very good."
Each time Navy made a run, Quinnipiac seemed to immediately answer on the other end. The Mids made the score 52-46 following a three-point basket by
Jordan Pennick, but the Bobcats answered with a basket on the other end (54-46).
Sam Krist made his fourth triple of the game to make it a five-point game at 54-49, which was followed by a 5-0 run by Quinnipiac that gave the visitors a 59-49 lead with nine minutes to play.
It was a 61-51 score with 7:15 remaining when the Mids made another run. A field goal from
Jack Medalie and two foul shots from
Austin Benigni made it a two-possession game at 61-55 with a little more than six minutes left. The Bobcats scored three points over their next two possessions as part of a 7-2 run that gave them a 68-57 advantage with less than four minutes remaining.
Both teams ended the game making 23 fields goals, but Quinnipiac shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half and 43.4 percent for the game while Navy made 36.7 percent of its shots after halftime and 36.5 percent for the contest.
Navy held a 17-12 lead in offensive boards, but Quinnipiac won the second-chance points statistic by the count of 10-7.
"We had great energy on the glass in the second half," said DeChellis. "More than in the first. We got the ball but we couldn't make the big basket we needed to make."
The Bobcats were 23-30 (76.7%) from the foul line in contrast to the 9-17 (52.9%) effort by the Mids.
"They got to the free throw line, and deservedly so," said DeChellis. "We fouled them."
Krist ended the game with 15 points. The junior entered the game with nine points this season and 11 in his career. Medalie tallied seven rebounds and six points and fellow reserve
Cam Cole had five points and five assists.
"I thought some guys played well off the bench (31 points from the reserves)," said DeChellis. "Really proud of
Sam Krist.
Jack Medalie rebounded the ball and was strong at the basket."
Among starters,
Aidan Kehoe set a career-high with 12 rebounds to go along with six points, Pennick tallied 12 points and Benigni scored 10 points.
Navy will play its last home game in the 2024 calendar year Monday when it plays host to Washington (Md.).
