Navy men’s basketball routs Army, 84-56, as Austin Benigni leads the way
Business-like.
That is the best way to describe Navy’s convincing victory over archrival Army. The Midshipmen played the type of basketball they have been since Patriot League action began and that proved too much for the Black Knights.
Senior point guard Austin Benigni scored 19 points and dished off six assists as Navy dominated every aspect of the game in beating Army, 84-56, before a boisterous crowd of 4,731 at Alumni Hall.
Senior forward Mike Woods showed up strong in the biggest game so far, scoring a season-high 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Not known as a perimeter threat, Woods was repeatedly left open beyond the arc and made the visitors pay by making 4 of 5 attempts from 3-point range.
Senior center Aidan Kehoe notched his 10th double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds for Navy (15-6, 7-1), which further solidified its hold on sole possession of first place in the Patriot League. Navy has now won seven of its past eight meetings with Army.
Senior forward Donovan Draper contributed 11 points and five rebounds, while junior guard Cam Cole came off the bench to provide a solid all-around floor game with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds as the Midshipmen held the lead for 36 1/2 of 40 minutes.
It was the largest margin of victory for Navy against Army since 1999 and both coaches pointed to the drastic difference in experience as a key factor. All of those seniors stepped up for the Midshipmen, while the Black Knights had a bunch of sophomores and freshmen facing the archrival for the first time.
“I thought our staff did a really good job of preparing these guys and we’ve had incredible focus the last two days. It’s a blessing to have a veteran group with so much experience. They’ve been in these games, they understand the preparation, they know what the environment is going to be like,” said first-year Navy coach Jon Perry, who was victorious in his Army-Navy debut.
“I’m proud of them for respecting the moment and, most importantly, being who we are. We did not let the moment change our style of play, whether it be on the offensive or defensive end.”
Junior guard Ryan Curry scored 15 points and sophomore guard Jaxson Bell contributed 14 for Army (8-13, 2-6), which shot just 37% from the field. Freshman Jackson Furman, the team’s second-leading scorer and a candidate for Patriot League Rookie of the Year, was limited to two points on 1-for-7 shooting.
Current Army players have amassed a total of 54 career points against Navy and 46 of those came from Curry.
Navy defeats Army mens basketball | PHOTOS
“We’re a very young team and they’re the opposite. They are a very veteran, seasoned team that’s played a lot of basketball together,” Army coach Kevin Kuwik said. “Credit to Navy, I thought they played well in all areas. They rebounded and ran good offense. Defensively, they make you work hard. For a young team in a hostile environment against a good veteran team we didn’t sustain what we need to do over 40 minutes.”
Navy’s men completed a sweep of the Saturday doubleheader for the home team in emphatic fashion. Everyone contributed as the Mids completely controlled the backboards, outrebounding the Black Knights, 38-21.
“Rebounding is effort, its grittiness and toughness. It’s just a will to go pursue the ball and we understand that’s important,” Perry said. “That is one of our big three that we always want to win.”
Army came into the contest having taken more 3-pointers than any team in the Patriot League. Perry said the Black Knights “live and die by the three” and noted that it was critical to contest every attempt from beyond the arc. The Midshipmen did just that and the visitors finished 9-for-34 on 3-pointers.
Ultimately, Navy beat Army at its own game by making 11 of 20 (58%) from 3-point land with Woods and Benigni accounting for seven of those. Perry praised the commitment his troops made to defending the three.
“I got into these guys about not making it a 3-point contest and I think I might have stirred the pot a bit. They were like we’ll show you coach. We can make some threes, too,” said Perry, who was thrilled Navy had 21 assists on 29 field goals. “That ball is starting to pop and those assists are starting to go up and to me that’s basketball because everyone gets involved.”
Perry said he’s been “harping” on Woods to be more aggressive offensively and to hunt his own shot more instead of always passing to Benigni or Kehoe. Navy’s captain did not hesitate to pull the trigger on Saturday.
“Coach has been telling me the last couple days to be aggressive, be confident and to look for your own shot when you’re out there,” Woods said.
Benigni scored 15 points on the strength of 5-for-6 field goal shooting as Navy took a 46-34 halftime lead. Benigni, who swished all three 3-pointers he took, only played 15 minutes in the first half because he got sick and had to go into the locker room.
Kehoe totaled nine points and five rebounds for the Mids, who used a 15-6 run to take a 35-25 lead with 3:16 remaining in the half — forcing Army to call a timeout to stem the momentum. Curry scored 13 first-half points for the Black Knights, who cut the deficit to nine on three occasions in the final only to see the Midshipmen answer with 3-pointers by Kim, Cole and Benigni and take their largest lead into intermission.
The home team shot 65% from the field in tying the Army-Navy game record for most points in a half.
“I thought over the last eight to 10 minutes of the first half they got entrenched in the game the way they want to play and we weren’t able to respond to that,” Kuwik said.
Woods drained a pair of 3-pointers as Navy opened the second half with a 7-2 run to increase the advantage to 16 points (53-37) with just over three minutes elapsed. Army missed eight shots and committed four turnovers on the way to scoring just nine points in nine minutes to begin the second half.
Draper made a set shot in the lane then followed with a steal and dunk to cap a lightning-quick 6-0 run that put the Mids ahead 61-43 with 11:36 to go in the game.
A television timeout gave Army a chance to regroup and Bell hit a 3-pointer coming out of the break. That turned out to be just a brief respite for the visitors as Cole canned a 3-pointer to a 10-2 run that gave Navy a commanding 71-48 lead with 7:44 left. It only got worse from there for Army, which will welcome Navy to Christl Arena on Feb. 21 for the Star game.
“It shows how inexperienced we are and you saw that in all facets — on offense, on defense and on the glass. “We got some experience today, but it wasn’t a good one,” Kuwik said of the blowout loss. “We’re going to get another crack at these guys in a couple weeks and I expect we’re going to be better.”
Have a news tip? Contact Bill Wagner at bwagner@capgaznews.com443-534-0102 and x.com/@BWagner_CapGaz.
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