LOYOLA STUNS NAVY IN PATRIOT LEAGUE MEN’S HOOPS TOURNAMENT
Greyhounds stun Davis-less Mids in Patriot League tourney
Navy men’s basketball absorbed a brutal blow long before Saturday’s Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal against Loyola Maryland got underway.
The Midshipmen learned late in the week that two starters, including team captain and first team All-Patriot League pick Cam Davis, would be unavailable. Junior forward Richard Njoku, a member of the Patriot League All-Defensive team, was also sidelined by coronavirus protocols.
It marked the third straight missed game for Davis and Njoku, who did not play in either of last weekend’s games against the Greyhounds.
Things only got worse for the Mids after the game began.
Junior guard Jaylin Andrews scored 17 points and No. 9 Loyola led from start to finish in upsetting top-seeded Navy, 76-68, at Alumni Hall. Sophomore forward Santi Aldama notched another double double with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Greyhounds, who had lost all three regular season meetings with the Midshipmen.
Freshman forward Alonso Faure contributed 13 points off the bench for Loyola (5-10), which will play at No. 4 Army West Point in Wednesday’s semifinals. This marks the first trip to the semis for the Greyhounds since 2014.
“We prepared this whole week for this game — rebounding drills, defensive drills and executing against their pressure,” said Andrews, a Boys’ Latin graduate. “We all bought in knowing we could win this game. We will celebrate today and get ready for the next one starting tomorrow.”
Sophomore Cam Spencer (Boys’ Latin) started at point guard for the Greyhounds and delivered a strong all-around performance with 10 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals. Golden Dike added eight points and five rebounds for Loyola, which earned its first Patriot League Tournament win under third-year coach Tavares Hardy.
“We told ourselves coming into this game it was a new season. We wanted to take the lessons from the 14 games we’ve played and apply them to try to win a championship. We took the first step toward that, but there’s a long way to go,” Hardy said.
Junior guard Greg Summers scored 21 points on 9-for-12 field goal shooting to lead Navy (15-3), which was out-rebounded 34-26. The Greyhounds grabbed 12 offensive boards and converted them into 19 second-chance points.
Sophomore guard Patrick Dorsey scored 12 points for Navy, which trailed 40-28 at halftime and by as much as 15 early in the second half. Sophomore forward Jaylen Walker only made 4 of 13 field goals in netting nine points for the Midship
men, who saw a five-game winning streak snapped and suffered just their second loss since a Nov. 27 setback at Maryland.
“Credit to Loyola for coming in here and beating us,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “I didn’t think we played our best game, and that’s unfortunate. At this time of the year you have to play your best game because it’s one and done.”
A third season-long starter for Navy, second-leading scorer John Carter Jr., did not practice for most of the past week because he wasn’t feeling well. DeChellis said the coaching staff “knew he would struggle” and Carter did just that, managing only six points while playing just 17 minutes off the bench.
Navy swept a home-and-home doubleheader with Loyola last weekend despite not having Davis nor Njoku. Following the Sunday loss, Hardy bemoaned the fact the Midshipmen “came out and hit us in the mouth.”
Loyola did the same to Navy when it mattered most, using hot shooting and an extremely active 1-3-1 matchup zone to take a 24-15 lead just before the midway mark of the first half. The Greyhounds were getting whatever they wanted offensively, while the Mids seemed bewildered about how to attack the amoeba-like zone.
Navy had multiple shot clock violations and routinely launched desperation attempts to avoid that form of turnover. The Midshipmen wound up shooting 8-for-21 from 3-point range for the game.
“They’ve run that zone multiple times in the games we’ve played them. We needed to get the ball into the high post, and they were taking that away,” Summers said.
DeChellis said Navy struggled to score against the zone during practice and felt that “carried over” into the game.
“I thought it took us a long time to get into offense. We didn’t look very smooth in anything we did today, and that’s my fault. We had a hard time scoring the ball,” he said.
Hardy noticed Navy had trouble attacking the zone last weekend without Davis directing the offense. The Loyola staff learned right before tipoff that Davis would not play again and wanted to rattle his replacement — freshman Austin Inge.
“Based off last game with the lineup they had in, we thought it really bothered them,” Hardy said when asked why he went with the 1-3-1 zone and a full-court press from the outset. “We thought coming out aggressively from the start would hurt their young guards a bit.”
As happy as he was with the defense, Hardy was even more pleased with what Loyola did offensively. The Greyhounds shot 58 percent (32-for-55) from the floor in becoming just the third Patriot League opponent to reach 70 points against the Midshipmen this season.
Loyola averaged 59 points and 21 turnovers in three regular season losses to Navy. Spencer and junior guard Kenneth Jones started in place of seniors Isaiah Hart and Luke Johnson.
“Honestly, I think our offense was more the key. They don’t give up 76 points very often,” Hardy said. “We switched up our lineup and started Kenny and Cam because they’re more threats from an offensive standpoint. It really helped us to be able to get off to a good start.
“Navy is a very good defensive team and to be able to put up 40 points in the first half was phenomenal,” Hardy added.
Navy picked up the intensity to start the second half, using full-court pressure of its own to change the momentum. After giving up just six turnovers in the first half, the Greyhounds committed nine in the second half.
After watching the offense flounder in the first half, Summers took charge in the second. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound wing consistently slashed to the basket for layups or short pullup jumpers in scoring 14 points after intermission.
“Summers scored the ball in the second half. He drove hard and got to the basket,” DeChellis said. “We needed somebody to score and he stepped up and did some good things.”
Down 43-28 just 29 seconds into the second half, Navy regrouped and rallied to get within one (49-48) at the 13:32 mark. Summers scored nine points and snatched two steals during that stretch.
However, the Midshipmen came up empty on their next four possessions and that enabled the Greyhounds to stretch the lead back to seven points. That would be the theme the rest of the way as Navy just could not get over the hump and take the lead.
“It was a one-possession game and we just couldn’t make the play we needed to make on either offense or defense,” DeChellis said.