NCAA News Wire
Navy 70, Binghamton 68
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Senior guard Brandon Venturini scored a season-high 26 points to lead Navy to its first victory of the young season, 70-68 over Binghamton on Sunday evening in the consolation game of the Springfield Bracket of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament in Uncasville, Conn.
Navy (1-4) trailed 53-42 with just over 13 minutes left in the second half after leading 32-31 at halftime. However, the Midshipmen rallied a deficit and caught the Bearcats at 62-62 on guard Zach Fong’s 3-pointer with 5:10 left. The teams went scoreless for nearly the next two minutes before Venturini broke the tie with a 3-pointer.
Venturini, whose career high is 28 points, hit two free throw to make it a five-point game with just over two minutes left. He hit two more foul shots with 34 seconds remaining to put his team up 69-65.
After Binghamton guard Romello Walker canned a 3-pointer from the wing to make it 69-68, Navy guard Tilman Dunbar (11 points) hit one of two free throws with 19 seconds left for the final margin.
Binghamton (1-4) had two chances to tie but guard Yosef Yacob missed from underneath and forward Willie Rodriguez’s banked 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer.
Rodriguez led Binghamton with 15 points. Yacob and forward Dusan Perovic, who finished 3-for-3 on 3-point attempts, had 12 each for the Bearcats, and forward Nick Madray added 10.
