Coaches wait for 1QB to seize job

Another week, another quarterback competition for Navy football.

The Midshipmen have used four different quarterbacks this season and none of the three still on the roster has seized the starting job.

Tyger Goslin won the open competition that began following theSMUloss on Oct. 31. However, the 5-foot-11, 181-pound junior did not distinguish himself and was pulled late in the third quarter of Saturday’s 10-7 loss toMemphis.

Freshman Xavier Arline came off the bench to run the offense the rest of theway and, though he showed some bright spots, he also had a glaring mistake and did not largely outperform Goslin.

Which brings coach Ken Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper back to square one in terms of determining a starter for this Saturday’s game against No. 22 Tulsa.

“If you’re still moving quarterbacks around at this point in the season,” Niumatalolo said, “you obviously haven’t settled on one.”

Dalen Morris, who has started five of eight games this season, remains in the mix. As was the case for the three weeks leading up to the Memphis game, those three are auditioning thisweek.

“We’ll go again this week and see how it goes. They all continue to keep battling. They’re all close, which makes it tough,” Niumatalolo said. “They’ve all gotten in there and done good things and

confident and our guys put on a show.”

Junior swingman John Carter Jr. scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished off three assists for Navy (3-1), which is off to its best start since the 2008-09 season. Junior forward Richard Njoku contributed eight points, six rebounds and solid interior defense for the Midshipmen.

It was historic on a number of levels. It’s Navy’s first victory over Georgetown since January 1977 and first road win against a Big East Conference opponent since 1986, whenNavy upset Syracuse in the Carrier Dome during the NCAA Tournament. The Midshipmen had not defeated a Big East school since knocking off Pittsburgh at AlumniHall in1996.

“We know this [Georgetown] is an historic program with a Hall of Fame coach,” said Davis. “It was a special game. It was awesome to come out here and play in an environment like this. But that doesn’t change anything for us. We are still going to go out there and play Navy basketball and execute and do whatwe do.”

Sophomore forward Daniel Deaver scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds and teamed with Luke Loehr (5 points, 3 rebounds) to help Navy’s bench outscore Georgetown’s, 14-1. The Hoyas hauled down 21 offensive rebounds against UMBC in their opener and DeChellis made that a point of emphasis.

Navy held its own in the rebounding department, grabbing 36 as compared to 38 for Georgetown.

“We needed to rebound the ball and keep them off the glass. We wanted to make them play in the half-court and not get their transition going,” DeChellis said.

Senior guard Jahvon Blair and senior forward Jamorko Pickett both totaled 17 points and six rebounds for Georgetown (1-1), which shot just 32 percent (25-60) from the floor. QudusWahab, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center, had 16 points and seven rebounds.

There were seven ties and seven lead changes before Navy completely took control of the contest down the stretch. Davis drained a 3-pointer to put the Mids ahead to stay at 61-60 with 6:39 left.

Njoku scored inside and Davis followed with a step-back jumper. Carter delivered the dagger with a step-back 3-pointer at the 3:58 mark and sophomore forward Tyler Nelson followed with a steal and a layup to cap a 14-3 run that gave Navy a nine-point lead, 72-63, with three minutes remaining.

Navy hung with Maryland for a half before wearing down in the second half and losing 82-52. DeChellis was pleased to see the Midshipmen put together a complete game.

“I challenged our guys at halftime. We didn’t come out the way we wanted to, but I said we withstood some runs and now let’s make a run ourselves,” he said. “The kids just believed. It is no magic; the kids just believed. They continued to fight. We are not a lot of things, but we have some grit andwe will fight you.”