BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Virginia Tech's Ben Burnham was 7-9 from the field and made three baskets as the shot clock expired in totaling a game-high 17 points in an 80-72 victory by the Hokies (5-6) over the Navy men's basketball team (3-8), Sunday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va.
"I am really proud of our kids," said Navy head coach
Ed DeChellis. "We came in and played really hard and really physical basketball. We outrebounded this team (30-20) and they were one of the top-60 teams in the country in rebound margin. We just didn't make enough shots, and we made some silly decisions with the ball. And Burnham made four big shots. Those are killers. Credit to them; they made shots when they had to.
"Our kids believed they could win. They played with a lot of confidence. I am proud of our guys."
Navy led 16-15 in the first half when an 11-0 run gave the Mids a 27-15 lead. Virginia Tech responded with a 12-0 run to tie the game at 27-27 with 6:28 remaining in the half. The Hokies then took a 33-31 lead with 4:30 still to play. The lead changed hands twice and there was one tie over the rest of the half. A three-point basket by Burnham as the first half horn sounded gave the Hokies their largest lead of the frame at 46-41.
Both offenses were clicking in the opening half. Navy shot 72 percent (13-18) from the floor and Virginia Tech made 57 percent (16-28) of its shots.
Navy was whistled for seven fouls in the first half, but was called for five inside of the first five minutes of the second half. That allowed the Hokies to maintain a slim lead during the opening minutes of the stanza (55-50). The Mids drew to within one point at 57-56 after back-to-back triples by
Lysander Rehnstrom and
Austin Benigni. Navy then tied the game at 59-59 on the fourth trey of the afternoon by Rehnstrom with 11:55 to play.
The Hokies answered with a three-point basket 25 seconds later. Both offenses slowed down and there was not any scoring until the Hokies made their ninth triple of the game to stretch the lead to 65-59 with 8:46 showing on the clock. Burnham soon scored on a basket and foul shot to make it a 68-59 game with just over seven minutes remaining.
A Benigni driving layup ended a 5:15 scoring drought for Navy and made the score 68-61 in favor of the Hokies with 6:40 left to play. Virginia Tech scored again to make it a nine-point game at 70-61. Back came the Mids and a jumper by Rehnstrom clawed them to within four points at 70-66 with 4:31 remaining.
Navy played great defense on the ensuing possession by the Hokies, but Burnham drilled a three-point basket with one second left on the shot clock to give Virginia Tech a 73-66 advantage with 3:57 left to play.
Navy then made it a two possession game at 76-70 when
Jordan Pennick hit a jumper at the two minute mark. The Mids sent Mylyjael Poteat to the foul line and he missed the front end of a bonus with 1:46 remaining. Navy grabbed the loose carom and Pennick was able to get a clean look at a three-point shot 10 seconds later. The effort missed the mark, however, and the Hokies grabbed the rebound and eventually scored with 70 seconds left to take a 78-70 lead.
Pennick was fouled on the other end of the floor with 51.9 seconds on clock and he made both foul shots to again make it a two possession game at 78-72.
Virginia Tech was in no hurry on its ensuing possession and Navy was willing to play defense instead of sending the Hokies to the foul line. After running the shot clock down, the Hokies were forced to scramble to find a shot,. The ball found itself in the hands of Burnham who made yet another basket -- this time a 15-foot baseline jumper -- at the expiration of the shot clock. This one came with 23 seconds left on the game clock and proved to be the final points of the entertaining game.
"We had that one span in the middle when we couldn't score," said DeChellis, "and then they (Virginia Tech) made some tough shots. That's when we made some silly mistakes. We will grow and get better from it.
"This is a great environment to play in. This is at a whole different level of stuff we are trying to do."
Navy shot just 33.3 percent from the field in the second half to end the game with an overall mark of 47.1 percent. Virginia Tech made 47.8 percent of its attempts after halftime to post an overall mark of 52.9 percent. The Mids were only 9-27 (33.3%) from three-point range for the game and the Hokies were 10-18 (55.6%) from long range.
Navy held a 30-20 advantage on the glass, including a 15-8 edge in offensive rebounds. However, the Mids led by only a 12-10 margin in second chance points.
Turnovers were costly for the Mids as their 16 turnovers led to 19 points for Virginia Tech while Navy scored 15 points following the 10 turnovers committed by the Hokies.
Rehnstrom and Pennick each scored 14 points and Benigni scored 13 points.
Navy will next play Saturday at Coppin State.
