Courtesy of PatriotLeague.org
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — In his first career Patriot League Tournament game, Navy sophomore George Kiernan tied his career-high of 18 points and made the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 29.2 seconds left to lead the fourth-seeded Midshipmen (16-15) past fifth-seeded Holy Cross (15-17), 49-42, in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday evening.
With the win, Navy will play at No. 1 Bucknell on Sunday at 2:00 PM in the Patriot League Semifinals. Navy wins its first quarterfinal game since 2001 and the Mids have advanced to the semifinal round for the first time since 2001 as well.
Two free throws by Kiernan put the Mids ahead 40-39 with 2:56 remaining in the second half and Bryce Dulin got a baseline layup to roll in to put Navy ahead by three. Karl Charles then sunk a 3-pointer on Holy Cross’s next possession to tie the game at 42-42.
Navy turned the ball over on its next possession and Patrick Benzan took off for a fastbreak layup, but Dulin, a Patriot League All-Defensive Team honoree, raced down the entire court to block Benzan’s attempt off the glass. Holy Cross kept possession and Charles missed a 3-pointer and Shawn Anderson grabbed the defensive rebound to give Navy a critical possession.
Navy then called timeout to set up the play in which Hasan Abdullah kicked to Kiernan for the long 3-pointer that gave Navy a 45-42 lead. After a Holy Cross timeout, Navy got another defensive stop as Tom Lacey contested a Benzen layup and then Malachi Alexander missed everything on a 3-point attempt. Kiernan was fouled before the ball was inbounded and the sophomore sunk both attempts. Anderson then got a steal and made two more free throws to clinch the 49-42 win.
“Give our kids credit,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “With a minute to go the game was on the line and we found a way to win. It was a heck of a basketball game. Holy Cross is a very good team and they are well coached. We have always had very close games with them.”
Both teams started slow offensive and Navy led just 19-12 at halftime. Holy Cross led 10-8 with eight minutes to play in the first period, but Navy outscored the visitors 11-2 for the rest of the half. Anderson had a steal and a fastbreak layup late in the half and then Kiernan threw down his first career dunk coming off the baseline off an assist from Abdullah at the halftime buzzer.
The 12 points allowed by Navy in the first half were the third-lowest allowed in program history.
Holy Cross scored the first six points of the second half to cut Navy’s lead to one point, but the Mids fought back with an Abdullah jumper and then slam dunks on back-to-back possessions by senior Edward Alade to go ahead by six points.
Navy outshot Holy Cross 35 percent to 33 percent and the Mids were just 3-of-21 on 3-pointers (14 percent). Navy was 0-of-9 on 3-pointers in the first half and missed its first 11 in the game before Dulin’s triple with 12:23 left in the second.
Navy outrebounded Holy Cross 42-23 and pulled down 20 offensive boards.
Kiernan was 5-of-9 from the floor, 2-of-4 on 3-pointers and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Kiernan also pulled down a career-best nine rebounds. Kiernan missed some time in the first half with a shoulder injury, but came back in the game at the end of the first half for his big dunk.
“It was a great effort [by George],” said DeChellis. “He showed a lot of toughness. He made the big three we needed to make. He made his free throws at the end of the game, which were huge. He grew up tonight. This was a big stage for him and it put us in the semifinals of the conference tournament. He played really well and he gave us a big lift.”
Dulin scored nine points, while Lacey finished with eight points and five rebounds. Alade scored six points and matched his career-high of nine rebounds. Abdullah dished out a game-high six assists in the contest.
Robert Champion led Holy Cross with 13 points, while Alexander scored 11 and Charles added 10.
Holy Cross won the Patriot League Tournament Championship in 2016.
Navy improved to 12-2 all-time in Patriot League Tournament games played in Annapolis and DeChellis is now 3-0 in home tournament games at Navy.
Sunday’s Patriot League Semifinal contest at Bucknell will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
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