Keystone State Teams Prevail at the 10th Annual Veterans Classic

By: Ethan Hennessy

Annapolis Maryland

In game one of the 10th annual Veterans Classic two quality mid majors faced off in Alumni Hall. Duquesne from the Atlantic Ten Conference took on College of Charleston who received two votes in the preseason AP top 25 poll and earned the unofficial ranking of the 41st team in the country. Last season Charleston won 31 games and made the NCAA Tournament. Duquesne also went dancing in the postseason participating in the College Basketball Invitational in Daytona Beach Florida.

After both teams started relatively even Duquesne pulled away in between the first and second media timeout. The Dukes used a 15-0 run to take a 22-5 lead. College of Charleston slowly clawed back over the remainder of the first half to make it competitive. The Cougars has balanced scoring with no one player contributing more than seven points. Duquesne could keep the early offensive output going. The Dukes went 1-11 shooting to close out the first half.

In the second half Duquesne used key contributions from Dae Dae Grant (22 points) and Jimmy Clark III (18 points and seven assists) to propel themselves past College of Charleston by a score of 90-72

In game Navy welcomed Temple to Alumni Hall. Navy matched Temple’s speed and athleticism with their trademark physicality. They had the advantage in points in the paint in the first half. What prevented them from having the lead was turnovers and giving Temple multiple offensive chances.

Midway through the second half Navy got rolling. They were able to finish putbacks on their end of the court, and defensively they started stringing together stops. Navy cut the Temple lead to only seven with 10:27 left in the game. Even in the final minute Navy would not go away quietly Kam Summers drained a corner three with 53.1 seconds left to to get it down to five. The Midshipmen showed press after coming out of the timeout, but backed off and attempted to trap instead. They were unsuccessful and sent UMBC transfer Matteo Picarelli to the line. Navy kept playing the foul game. After a Temple turnover under their own basket that was then turned into a Donovan Draper layup Navy had it down to three. In the end there just was not enough time to close the gap. Temple won 75-68.