Navy taken down by Number 13 Miami
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Navy (1-1) had a tough match up on short rest in the Watsco Center against No.13 Miami. The Midshipmen were downed by the Canes 89-55 to go 1-1 against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Miami did not have anyone over 16 points but did spread out the scoring and had five Canes in double digits. The scoring for the Canes was lead by sophomore guard Dejan Vasiljevic.
The Midshipman got beat down by the nationally ranked Canes but the grit of the Mids all night shows the heart of the team. Hasan Abdullah a junior guard led Navy with 13 points while hitting on three of his 3- point attempts. Tom Lancey the heart of the team and the veteran added 10 points to go with five boards and two assists. The Midshipmen also got 11 points off their bench by their junior forward George Kiernan.
Navy held their own going on a few streaks with the powerhouse Canes by going on a few runs in the first half to break into Miami’s lead but could never get over that hump. The depth, speed, and size of Miami showed as the game went on and the Midshipmen started to get on their heels. Navy was outscored 50-26 in the paint and also allowed 29 fast break points. To go along with that the Mids were outshot 55 percent to 33. This is the recipe to losses but it was not all negative for Navy.
The bench points and grit overall that the Mids showed will be a positive going forward. Navy’s defense and offense will not face another team this regular season with the size, speed, and basketball ability as they did this evening with Miami. They hung in there for most of the game and if they get their shots falling and keep getting rebounds this version of the Midshipmen should be seeing some quality wins.
For head coach Ed DeChellis this could be his best team he has had here in Annapolis. Even though this was a tough loss, to go 1-1 against the premiere ACC conference is a win and a building block for this Midshipmen team.
Next up for Navy is an away game against Penn (0-1) in the historic Palestra arena on Wednesday.
