ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Donovan Draper and Austin Benigni each fell just short of double-doubles as the Navy men's basketball team (1-4) defeated VMI (2-6), 67-47, Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

"Defense," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis afterward when asked what had been the focus of the team since last playing at San Diego nine days ago.  "We really worked on guarding the ball, being in our gaps and trying to play five guys versus the ball and help each other.  We were leaving guys on islands, I thought.  We really worked hard (the last week), and I thought we were really good the first half (tonight), I thought we were pretty good the first 10 minutes of the second half and then, with the very young team that we are, we relaxed."

Navy turned a 9-7 lead into a 24-9 advantage with just under seven minutes left in the half.  The Mids scored 11 points in a row during one stretch as they held the Keydets scoreless for over six minutes.  Navy extended its cushion to 16 points at 26-13 before VMI made it a 31-20 lead for the Mids at halftime.

Navy held a 15-0 lead in points after turnovers as it forced 14 turnovers and committed only four.  The Mids also led, 18-8, in points scored in the paint.

It was a 36-25 Navy lead in the early stages of the second half when the Mids ran off the next 11 points to build a 47-25 lead with 12:20 still to play.  The Mids were 3-6 from the floor with one three-point field goal made and 4-4 from the foul line during the run to break the game open.  

Navy led by at least 20 points over the final seven minutes.

The Mids were very opportunistic as they scored 22 points following the 26 turnovers they forced in the game, held a 16-5 edge in second-chance points thanks to a 17-9 lead in offensive rebounds and led, 12-0, in fastbreak points.

Navy shot 36.8 percent from the field, but made 53.6 percent (22-41) of its two-point attempts to balance out its 14.3-percent effort (3-28) from three-point range.  The Mids also were 14-18 (73.7%) from the foul line.

Conversely, the Mids turned the ball over just 12 times and held VMI to 33.3 percent shooting from the floor on the night.

"I thought there was improvement," said DeChellis.  "I thought we rebounded pretty well. I thought they (VMI) were a really good rebounding team.

"Offensively, we have to start shooting the ball (better).  I don't think we took bad shots; we just have to start making them.  I thought we worked hard offensively.  I thought we manufactured points off the turnovers.  In a free flowing offense, we didn't make shots we need to make."

Draper totaled 15 points on 5-6 shooting from both the field and the free throw line.  He also added nine rebounds and accounted for five of Navy's 14 steals.  Benigni matched Draper's scoring output and added eight boards and four assists to his stat line.  Joining the duo in reaching double figures was Mitch Fischer with 10 points.  

Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Sunday at 1:30 p.m. when it plays host to Coppin State.