PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Elon held the Navy men's basketball team to 25-percent shooting in the first half as it built a lead the Mids (3-5) could not fully cut into until very late during an eventual 69-63 victory by the Phoenix (4-3), Saturday afternoon at The Palestra in Philadelphia.

"It was a tough day for us," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "I thought we played really hard, but not well.  We couldn't make a shot.  We were dismal from the floor and dismal from three.  That makes it really hard to win the game.  We had chances but just couldn't convert.  It is just hard to win with those percentages."

Points were hard to come by for either team in the early part of the first half.  The Mids were 4-22 shooting out of gate and while the Phoenix were not much better in terms of percentage (7-27), their volume of shots thanks to extra chances from offensive rebounds gave them a 23-12 lead with just under seven minutes left in the first half.

Elon, which won at Notre Dame last week, would go into halftime holding a 35-27 lead.  The Phoenix made seven three-point field goals in the first half while the Mids made eight total field goals.

Elon totaled 15 second-chance points following its 13 offensive rebounds in the first half while Navy scored nine second-chance points after its seven offensive boards.

The Mids made several runs at the Phoenix in the second half, but each were answered.  Navy closed to within seven points at 39-32 with 16:44 on the clock.  Elon responded with a 7-0 run over the ensuing 70 seconds to build a 46-32 lead.   It was back to single digits at 49-41 with 7:18 still to play, but a 5-0 run by Elon gave it a 54-41 advantage with 6:34 left.

The margin grew to 15 points at 57-42 with 5:44 remaining.  It remained in double figures until there were 32 seconds showing on the clock when the Mids drew to within 63-54.  Good foul shooting by the Phoenix halted any further rallies by the Mids.

Navy ended the game shooting 31.8 percent from the floor to ever-so-slightly better the 31.3 shooting percentage posted by Elon.  The Mids made one more field goal (21-20), but the Phoenix made 10 triples to 8 by Navy and were 19-26 from the foul line while the Mids were 13-16.

Elon held a 17-13 edge in offensive boards and a 49-43 overall lead on the glass.  Each team committed eight turnovers, with the Phoenix bettering Navy 13-8 in points after turnovers.

"They (Elon) had a lot more shots," said DeChellis.  "They had offensive rebounds and second-chance points.  We had a hard time keeping them off the glass.  They made a few more throws and got to the line more than we did. 

"We rebounded better in the second half than we did in the first.  We just didn't make the big shot.  We had our chances to cut it to within a striking area, but didn't make a basket."

Navy's bench was once again productive as the reserves scored 39 points.  Sam Krist scored 12 points off the bench and Cam Cole scored 11.  Starter Austin Benigni totaled a team-high 18 points.

Navy will close play in Philadelphia Sunday with a noon game against Maine.