ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Loyola took an early double-digit lead and behind an advantage of 16 rebounds along with 30 points from Deon Perry kept the Navy men's basketball team at bay in a 74-70 win by the Greyhounds (4-17, 2-6) over the Mids (8-11, 4-4), Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

An already outsized Navy team against a Loyola lineup that included a trio of 6-10 post players became smaller when Donovan Draper, who ranked 26th nationally in rebounding average, was whistled for his second foul at the 15:44 mark of the first half.  It was a 4-3 Loyola lead when Draper left and the Greyhounds soon took an 18-7 advantage.

"Coming into the game," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis, "we knew we had to be really good at rebounding the ball.  Their length, their physicality and their size was going to be a tough matchup for us." 

Navy was able to pull to within two points at 18-16, but Loyola ran off the next nine points to regain an 11-point lead at 27-16.

The Mids continued to get within range of the Greyhounds throughout the second half, but never could get even.

A Mac MacDonald triple 11 seconds after halftime made it a 36-32 Loyola lead, but a 6-0 run by the Greyhounds made the score 42-32.  

Navy then was able to make it a one-possession game at 45-42 five minutes into the half.  Loyola scored the next eight points to take a 53-42 lead.

The Mids had perhaps their best opportunity when they made the score 62-58 with 4:10 left on the clock.  Perry made two foul shots on the other end then, after a missed shot by Navy, Garrett Brennan made a three-point basket off of a Loyola offensive rebound as the shot clock expired to give the Greyhounds a 67-58 lead with just three minutes left to play.

Navy was able to make it a four-point game at 67-63 with 76 seconds still to play.  Loyola, which entered the day ranked 350th out of 351 teams in the country in free throw percentage, finished the game 7-8 from the foul line to seal the win.

Loyola ended the game with a 41-25 advantage on the glass.  This included a 25-12 edge on the Navy offensive end of the floor.  The last time Navy was outrebounded by at least 16 boards was when the Mids were -23 to Northeastern on Nov. 23, 2014.

Navy made one more field goal than Loyola, 22-21, but had 56 field goal attempts (39.3%) to 46 for the Greyhounds (45.7%).  Loyola also was 9-19 (47.4%) from three-point range –– Perry was 5-9 –– to better the 3-11 (27.3%) showing by the Mids.  The Greyhounds also were more successful at the foul line as they made 79.3 percent (23-29) of their free throws to a 74.2 percent (23-31) effort by Navy.

"We lost (statistically) two of the things we pride ourselves on, rebounding and defensive field goal percentage," said DeChellis.

"They (Loyola) made a couple of big threes in the first half.  They banked one in, made one from the logo that goes in as the clock expires, it is all of that stuff together that we didn't overcome.  We didn't play our best game, and so you pay for it. We knew it was going to be challenging to keep them off the glass, but at the end of the day we didn't do it."

The Mids did a great job of taking care of the ball as they committed three turnovers and forced 15.  Navy outscored Loyola, 21-8, in points after turnovers.

Austin Benigni scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists.  MacDonald ended the game with all three of Navy's three-point field goals made and 16 points.  Mike Woods added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Navy takes to the road for a pair of games this week, starting Wednesday at Lehigh.