By Darryl Harding Sr
In a game that began neck and neck, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks found themselves dead even, at 22 apiece, with the Navy Midshipmen, after a little under 15 minutes of play.
Desperately looking to improve on their 4-11 record, Lehigh feverishly caught fire amassing a lead on the Midshipmen. With stellar play by Dominic Parolin and double digits by both Jalin Sinclair and Tyler Whitney-Sidney, Lehigh was able to procure a nine point lead.
The spectacular play of Navy’s Austin Benigni, a guard averaging just shy of 15 points a game, and Donovan Draper, a forward contributing over 10 points a game, proved troublesome for Lehigh and they were again tied with Navy 35-35 at halftime.
Recording a double-double, for the night, Draper contributed immensely with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Lehigh’s leading scorer Parolin, with 20 points, forged the Mountain Hawks forward and proceeded to build a comfortable double-digit lead.
Even with a scoring drought of over three minutes and finding themselves with an 11 point deficit, Benigni, ending with a game high 32, pressed on to catapult Navy back into contention. Tied again at 61, with only 4:56 minutes left Benigni coupled with Draper’s steadfast defense, recording two blocks and two steals, Navy willed themselves ahead.
Clinging to fourth place with a conference record of 3-2, Navy tries to keep pace with the Patriot conferences leading Lafayette at 5-0. With only a few seconds left Benigni sunk two free throws solidifying the 71 to 69 point victory for the Midshipmen.
Lehigh with a conference record of 1-4 now struggles to improve their 4-12 overall record. Navy will go on to a classic battle against Army on Saturday, January 20 at 1:30pm, while Lehigh will try to bounce back against American University at 5:00pm on Saturday, January 20 as well.
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