PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Jack Medalie and Cam Cole combined for 26 of the 45 points scored by the bench in an 86-78 victory by the Navy men's basketball team (3-4) over Penn (2-4), Friday evening at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa.

"Our kids really dug in hard and found a way to win," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "We made some mistakes down the stretch but the guys made free throws when they had to along with some big defensive plays and good offensive plays."

Navy used the long ball to stake itself to a 37-28 lead at the break.  The Mids, who led by as many as 11 points in the first half, were 8-12 from three-point range and 4-12 in their two-point attempts.

Jordan Pennick led the way with a trio of triples in the opening 20 minutes.

The lead returned to double figures (40-30) in the early moments of the second half and grew to as many as 12 points at 45-33.  It was a 10-point game at 50-40 with 14 minutes left when Penn went on an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 51-50 with nine minutes remaining. 

Navy immediately answered on the other end with a trey from Jinwoo Kim.  A short while later, Medalie and Austin Benigni connected on back-to-back three-point field goals to give Navy a 59-51 advantage with just over seven minutes showing on the clock.

The Mids took their largest lead of the game at 70-57 with 2:51 remaining after a triple from Cole.  It then was a 72-60 lead with 2:25 left when things started to become interesting.  

The Quakers scored seven points on their next three possessions while the Mids missed a pair of field goal attempts.  That made the score 72-67 with 65 seconds still to play.  Following a timeout by Penn, Kim threw a long inbounds pass to Cole who raced down the court for a dunk to make it a 74-67 lead.  Back came the Quakers and a layup returned the margin to five points with 53 seconds left.  

Mike Woods was fouled and he made both foul shots, but Penn scored again and the difference was back to five points at 76-71 with 36 seconds remaining.  Benigni was fouled on the ensuing play and he made both free throws.  Penn was called for an offensive foul on the next possession, then Woods was again fouled.  He made both free throws to extend the lead to nine points at 80-71 with 29 seconds showing on the clock.  

It was a six-point game at 82-76 with 17 seconds left when Cole was fouled.  He too made both free throws to stretch the margin to eight points.  

Navy was 12-12 from the foul line in the last 53 seconds of the game.  That was part of an 18-19 effort from the charity stripe in the second half and a 23-28 (82.1%) effort for the game.

In addition to their marksmanship from the free throw line, the Mids ended the game with 15 three-point field goals made on 32 attempts (46.9%). That total is tied for second for the most in a game by Navy and is the most since also sinking 15 triples against Colgate on Jan. 30, 2010.  The school record is 20, which was set against Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 27, 1990.

"We shot the ball really well from the perimeter and the free throw line," said DeChellis.  "That allowed us to have some separation from Penn.

"Beating Penn on their home court doesn't happen very often at The Palestra.  I am really, really proud of our team."

Conversely, Penn was 7-29 (24.1%) from three-point range and 15-24 (62.5%) from the foul line.

Eight Mids made at least one three-point field goal, with Medalie's four –– one of which turned into a four-point play –– pacing the team.  He scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds during the game.  Cole scored all of his career-high 12 points in the second half.  Kim added nine points off the bench.

Leading the Mids in scoring was Benigni with 16 points to go along with a team-high five assists.  Navy recorded 18 assists on its 24 made field goals.

"The bench was really important for us," said DeChellis, "especially when you are playing three games in three days.  The bench, as I told them last night, was going to be really important.  We had 45 points off the bench.  We had great contributions from a lot of guys.  Cam Cole had a great contribution, obviously Jack Medalie again played really well, Jinwoo Kim played really well off the bench; those three guys came in and gave us a lift. Really proud of our whole squad.  It was a great team win."

Navy will face Elon Saturday at 2 p.m. and then Maine Sunday at noon in The Palestra.  Maine beat Elon, 69-56, in Saturday's first game.