Deaver’s day carries Mids to 4th straight road victory
Who would have ever thought Daniel Deaver would be mentioned in the same breath with David Robinson? Deaver earned that honor Saturday with the finest performance of his career. The senior forward posted career highs for both points and rebounds as Navy men’s basketball continued its hot stretch.
Deaver scored 35 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Navy routed Holy Cross, 86-68, at the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. Robinson was the last player to record a double-double of that caliber as he totaled 33 points and 15 rebounds against George Mason on Feb. 9, 1987.
“Obviously, Deaver had an unbelievable game. He was outstanding in the post offensively,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “They didn’t have a whole lot of answers for Deaver. We kept giving him the ball and he kept scoring.”
Deaver made 14 of 22 field goals with most of those coming within 3 feet of the basket. He was also 7-of-7 from the free throw line. The 6-foot-8, 221-pound senior was a beast on the backboards, hauling down 10 defensive rebounds and six offensive caroms.
DeChellis noted that Deaver’s ability to score in the post forced Holy Cross to double down and opened up the perimeter. Deaver had three assists for good measure.
Senior guard Sean Yoder was a stat-sheet stuffer with 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Senior forward Tyler Nelson totaled 13 points and six boards, while senior guard Annapolis graduate Christian Jones came off the bench to score 13 points.
“We were clicking offensively,” said DeChellis, who highlighted the inside-outside duo of Deaver and Yoder. “We put those two in a lot of two-man games and they were very good with passing and sharing the ball.”
It was the first double-double of the season for Deaver, whose previous careerhighs were 25 points and 12 rebounds. He is the first Navy player to score at least 35 points since Chris Harris netted 40 against Lehigh in February 2010.
“We were just getting [the ball] moving. We knew to attack,” Deaver said. “Shoutout to Sean right off the bat. He was just dropping dimes to me the whole game. Just getting the ball moving, going inside and out were the keys on offense.”
It was a successful completion to a stretch in which Navy (13-11, 6-6 Patriot League) played four out of five games on the road.
Remarkably, the Midshipmen won each of those road games and lost at home.
“That’s our fourth straight road win, which is hard to do in college basketball. These kids have been resilient and I am very, very proud of them for the effort here today,” DeChellis said.
DeChellis thought Nelson ignited the Midshipmen with a thunderous dunk. He also highlighted the defense, which harassed Holy Cross into 39% shooting (23-for-58). Deaver’s effort helped the Mids outrebound the Crusaders, 46-28.
“It was a slugfest in the first half then we found our rhythm offensively and knocked a couple of balls loose defensively,” he said. “Defensively, I thought we were pretty good the whole game, and we rebounded the ball well. That was a focus for us on offensive and that gave us second-chance opportunities.”
Senior forward Gerrale Cates scored 19 points to lead Holy Cross (8-17, 5-7), which split the regular season series with Navy.
The Midshipmen now sit alone in fifth place in the Patriot League standings.