{"id":124885,"date":"2026-02-06T06:57:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124885\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:57:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:57:30","slug":"a-daly-dose-of-hoops-inside-the-numbers-jacksonville-at-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124885\/","title":{"rendered":"A Daly Dose Of Hoops: Inside the Numbers: Jacksonville at Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Queens guard Isaiah Henry (3) throws down a dunk in the Royals’ win over Jacksonville Thursday night.\u00a0 (Photo:\u00a0 Queens Athletics)<\/p>\n

Follow @sportsmatters<\/a><\/p>\n

CHARLOTTE \u2013 No ASUN game is ever easy.\u00a0 For Queens, trying to bounce back from a
\nthree-game losing streak was daunting enough. Seeing Jordan Mincy\u2019s physical
\nand talented Jacksonville Dolphins on the visiting bench didn\u2019t make the
\nchallenge any easier.<\/p>\n

After a 40-minute battle that Queens led for the final 34
\nminutes or so, the Royals finally fended off the Dolphins, 93-84, at Curry Arena Thursday night. Queens led by
\nas many as 20 points in the game, only for Jacksonville to fight back late. Five
\nRoyals finished in double figures, all notching between 13 and 17 points on the
\nnight.<\/p>\n

You know what happened \u2013 now, let\u2019s go\u2026Inside the Numbers!<\/p>\n

After Jacksonville took its final lead of the game at 13-12, Queens tore off an 18-7 burst to take a 30-20 lead. The Royals maintained a double-digit lead for much of the remainder of the game. Jacksonville coach Jordan Mincy spoke after the game about the early Royals charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought in the first half \u2013 just
\ngiving a lot of props to Queens \u2013 they came out and they punched us right in
\nthe mouth,\u201d Mincy said. \u201cThey showed a level of physicality on both ends. I was
\nhighly impressed with how offensively they just took it to us. I thought our
\nguys really shied away from contact early.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens flirted with a record for the Division 1 era of its program, finishing with just five turnovers \u2013 one away from its record of four. Jacksonville converted those turnovers into just four points. At the 5:27 mark of the game, the Royals had committed just two miscues that resulted in zero Dolphin points.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThat\u2019s a huge deal (against) them,\u201d Queens coach Grant Leonard said. \u201cAnytime
\nyou give them free baskets, it really hurts. I thought we did a good job of
\nminimizing their easy ones. They hit a lot of tough twos, and that\u2019s what we
\nwanted them to do. Twos hurt, but threes kill. I thought we did a great job.
\nThey only got off 16 threes, and we really protected the paint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacksonville got 28 points off its bench, including 18 from sophomore guard Chris Arias. Mincy cited the impact Arias made in keeping his team in the game.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI was really happy with Chris,\u201d Mincy said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy who\u2019s been battling
\nthrough some injuries. He started off league play really well. He loves
\nshooting the ball. He was our leading scorer in (non-conference play). He\u2019s the
\nguy who came into league play with a lot of expectations.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAt the same time, dealing with the injuries \u2013 just to see him get out there
\nand kind of get back in a rhythm, I think that will bode well for us in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens emphasized getting its identity back entering Thursday\u2019s game. Leonard explained after the game what that meant and how the Royals did so.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTaking care of the ball is a huge thing for us. Winning the offensive rebound
\nbattle, which we won. Winning the turnover battle, which we won,\u201d Leonard said.
\n\u201cWe got off more threes than they did, even though I thought they did a good
\njob of limiting us. We almost won (at) the free throw line. Those are the four
\nareas we\u2019re trying to win every game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshman guard Isaiah Henry played key minutes Thursday, throwing down a thunderous dunk and drawing praise from Leonard.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI\u2019d say (the dunk) was (a) top-five (play),\u201d Henry said after the game. \u201cDefinitely
\nin high school, I had a few better dunks. That\u2019s definitely up there in the top
\nfive. I\u2019d say (it was the best at Queens). That or the Arkansas one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of Zay,\u201d Leonard added. \u201cThink
\nabout this \u2013 he hadn\u2019t played a lot lately, and I thought that was a misstep by
\nme. We shortened the rotation to maybe get more efficient, but I thought it
\ncaused (guard) Chris (Ashby) and (guard) Carson (Schwieger) to be tired down
\nthe stretch in the last few games. I just thought (Henry) did an unbelievable
\njob. We wouldn\u2019t have won that game without Zay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwieger and guard\/forward Maban Jabriel shifted into the paint to help stem Jacksonville\u2019s physical tide. Leonard was pleased with their play.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cMaban got a bunch of steals, and to force them into 12 turnovers, I thought
\nMaban got his hands on a bunch of different balls today. Then, there\u2019s the
\npossibility that our baseline out of bounds defense caused more turnovers than
\nit has all year. That was (forward) Avantae (Parker) and Maban\u2019s activity on
\nthe ball. That\u2019s a huge deal for us \u2013 the switchability.<\/p>\n

\n\u201c(Forward Yoav) Berman\u2019s done an unbelievable job. He guards point guards. He
\nguards five men. He walls up. Sometimes he\u2019s our most physical defender \u2013 even more
\nthan Tae. That flexibility and versatility is a huge deal for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens has a tough stretch of games ahead, despite their next three being at home. Leonard was in no mood to look ahead after this game, however.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt was just today that mattered,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cFor our guys to get their
\nconfidence back \u2013 they know they\u2019re a good team. To get back in the win column
\nwas a big deal. We\u2019ll move on to Saturday\u2019s (Homecoming game against North
\nFlorida) after midnight. I don\u2019t even want to talk about next week, because
\nthat doesn\u2019t matter. What matters is North Florida now. What mattered today was
\nJU, and JU is a formidable opponent. I\u2019m just glad we handled it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mincy felt Jacksonville played better in the second half, even if the scoreboard did not always indicate that.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI think our guys really focused in (during the second half),\u201d Mincy said. \u201cIn
\nthe first half, we felt like we didn\u2019t really stick to the scouting report.
\nThey have deadly shooters, and we allowed those guys to have six threes (in the
\nfirst half). Anytime you let Queens get more than 10 threes (the Royals
\nfinished with eight), it\u2019s going to be a hard night for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mincy\u2019s message for his team was one of perseverance.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI told them to keep their heads up,\u201d Mincy said. \u201cWe understand that it\u2019s a
\nlong season. When you look at the box scores, man, everybody in the league is
\nneck-and-neck. Historically, everybody knows this program. We\u2019re really good
\nwhen it comes to the conference tournament. For me, it\u2019s just game-by-game. I
\ntold them the same thing \u2013 it\u2019s game-by-game.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI understand we lost to Queens here. You might see them in the tournament. You\u2019ve
\njust got to be ready to go. We\u2019re going to take this as a learning lesson and
\njust keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens
\nshot 54.1 percent (33-for-61) on the night, adding 47.1 percent (8-for-17) of
\nits tries from distance to the total. The Royals shot 19-for-26 (73.1 percent)
\nfrom the stripe. Berman led Queens with 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting and
\n4-for-6 from the line. Nas Mann contributed 15 on 5-for-11 shooting and 4-for-4
\non free throws. Jabriel tallied 14 in reserve duty, while Parker and freshman
\nguard Jordan Watford added 13 apiece.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville
\nhit 51 percent (26-for-51) from the deck, with 43.8 percent (7-for-16) falling
\nfrom beyond the arc. The Dolphins hit 25-of-29 (86.2 percent) from the line.
\nArias led all scorers with 18 on 7-of-10 shooting and 3-for-3 from the line.
\nPower forward Donovan Rivers booked 17, bolstered by an 11-of-14 effort from
\nthe line. Guards Jaylen Jones and Hayden Wood each added 12 on 8-for-17 combined
\nshooting, with Jason Thirdkill adding 10.<\/p>\n

Next up:\u00a0 Queens remains at home for a Saturday tilt with North Florida. Tip time from Curry Arena is set for 4:00 (Eastern), with ESPN+ streaming the contest. Jacksonville travels to The Coliseum in Carrollton, Ga., for a Saturday outing against West Georgia. The 2:00 start will stream over ESPN+.<\/p>\n

Hustle Stats:<\/p>\n

Points off turnovers:\u00a0
\nQueens 15, Jacksonville 4<\/p>\n

Points in the paint:\u00a0
\nQueens 46, Jacksonville 32<\/p>\n

Second-chance points:\u00a0
\nJacksonville 9, Queens 8<\/p>\n

Fast-break points:\u00a0
\nJacksonville 15, Queens 10<\/p>\n

Bench points:\u00a0 Queens
\n32, Jacksonville 28<\/p>\n

QUEENS 93, JACKSONVILLE 84<\/p>\n

JACKSONVILLE (9-15, 4-7 ASUN)<\/p>\n

Jones 5-8 1-2 12, Wood 3-9 4-4 12, Thirdkill 3-4 2-2 10,
\nRivers 3-5 11-14 17, Sterck 2-4 0-0 5, Jordon 0-0 0-0 0, Arias 7-10 3-3 18,
\nLockett 2-8 4-4 8, Udemadu 1-2 0-0 0, Caporaso 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-51 25-29 84.<\/p>\n

QUEENS (13-11, 8-3)<\/p>\n

Mann 5-11 4-4 15, Parker 6-10 1-4, Ashby 2-6 2-2 8,
\nSchwieger 3-6 0-0 8, Berman 6-8 4-6 17, Watford 4-6 5-6 13, Henry 2-5 0-0 4,
\nLarson 0-0 1-2 1, Jabriel 5-9 2-2 14. Totals 33-61 19-26.<\/p>\n

Halftime:\u00a0\u00a0Queens 44-31. 3-Point
\ngoals:\u00a0\u00a0Queens 8-17 (Mann 1-2, Ashby 2-5, Schwieger 2-5, Berman 1-2,
\nJabriel 2-3), Jacksonville 7-16 (Jones 1-1, Wood 2-5, Thirdkill 2-3, Sterck
\n1-2, Arias 1-3, Lockett 0-2). Fouled out:\u00a0\u00a0NA.\u00a0 Rebounds:\u00a0\u00a0Jacksonville 30 (Arias
\n7), Queens 27 (Parker 6). Total fouls:\u00a0\u00a0Queens 24, Jacksonville 23.
\nTechnicals:\u00a0\u00a0NA.<\/p>\n

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