ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Austin Benigni made four free throws and scored six points in the last 46 seconds to help the Navy (11-17, 7-10) men's basketball team secure a 62-58 victory over Lafayette (11-19, 10-7), Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The victory in Navy's penultimate game of the regular season means it will finish with either the No. 7 or 8 seed in the Patriot League Tournament.  The Mids will be home Tuesday, March 5 in a first round game.

"Proud of our guys," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "I thought we really defended well.  I thought we set the tone at start of the game.  Offensively we still struggle to score at times.  It is not smooth, it is not pretty, but we find a way to put the ball in the basket.  We didn't shoot the ball well from three tonight, but I thought our defense was excellent.  I thought we rebounded the ball.  When I look at the box score, what jumps out to me is we had 19 offensive rebounds.  That's great energy by our guys."

Navy scored the first eight points of the game and built a 10-point lead at 23-13 and then extended the margin to 12 at 27-15 with 2:44 on the clock.  Lafayette scored the next six points, then a Mac MacDonald jumper just before the halftime horn gave the Mids a 29-21 lead at the break.

The Mids built several 13-point leads in the second half, with the last coming at 51-38.  It was a 53-42 advantage when Lafayette went on a 9-2 run to close to within 55-51 with just under seven minutes remaining.  

Donovan Draper ended a nearly four-minute scoring drought with a free throw to make the score 56-51 with 4:28 on the clock.  The Leopards had an empty possession which ended on a foul.  Navy's Aidan Kehoe missed the front end of the bonus, then the Mids sent Lafayette's Kyle Jenkins to the foul line with 3:25 on the clock.  He missed both attempts, with his second effort being knocked out of bounds by the Leopards.

The Mids never had a chance to get a shot off on their next time down the floor as Draper was called for an illegal screen.  Justin Vander Baan scored in the paint for Lafayette, then another missed Navy shot was followed by Luke Savicevic hitting a baseline three-point field goal at the two minute mark to tie the game at 56.

Navy called timeout with 1:48 on the game clock and 25 on the shot clock.  The Mids missed a three-point shot when play resumed, with the Leopards snaring the rebound with 1:35 on the game clock.  Lafayette gave the ball back to the Mids with 1:10 remaining on an illegal screen of its own.  

Navy kept the ball in Benigni's hands to run some time off the clock.  He eventually made a 12-foot jumper with 46.1 seconds remaining to push the Mids in front, 58-56, and score the team's first field goal since the 8:27 mark.  

"It was for me to come off the ball screen and make the read," said Benigni of the play.  "If they sagged off, I shoot it; if they come up, I can dump it down to the low man or keep it.  You look for your reads and see which one is open first."

Some miscommunication on Lafayette's end of the floor resulted in a pass going out of bounds on the sideline with 33.3 seconds still to play.

Once the Mids inbounded, they again kept it in Benigni's hands as he went side-to-side above the three-point point line to further drain the clock until he was fouled with 15.8 seconds remaining.  He made the front end of the bonus opportunity, then made the second, as well, to make the score 60-56.

Lafayette missed a three-point shot on its end of the floor, with the ball knocked out of bounds by the Mids with 8.0 showing on the clock.  The Leopards gave the ball to Jenkins who drove along the baseline and scored with 4.1 seconds left and the score 60-58.

Lafayette called timeout, then Navy inbounder Austin Inge had to call timeout himself.  After using Navy's last timeout, he successfully inbounded to Benigni who was fouled with 2.3 seconds remaining.  Now in the double bonus, he made both attempts to close out the scoring.

"You just trust what you have done all season," said Benigni of the late foul shots.  "I have been able to shoot pretty well at the line all season, so I expected to make them."

"He (Benigni) is a competitive young guy," said DeChellis.  "He loves the moment.  A lot of guys don't like the moment, he loves it. He said (before the final free throw attempts), 'hey, I'll make it.  Don't worry coach.'  We were talking about what ifs if they don't go in and he said, 'I'm making them.'  OK big fella, go knock them in.  You like a guy who has some moxie to him."

The Mids shot just 33.3 percent from the field for the game and allowed the Leopards to make 39.6 percent of their shots.  However, Navy held a slim 22-21 edge in field goals made and finished with an 8-6 lead in three-point field goals made.

Navy had numerous extended possessions as it corralled 19 offensive rebounds, but could only produce eight second-chance points.  Lafayette totaled 15 second-chance points on 10 offensive boards.  Navy ended the game with a 44-36 edge on the glass.

The Mids also turned the ball over nine times and forced 13 turnovers.  That held Navy to a 15-10 lead in points after turnovers.

Benigni finished with 18 points and five assists, Draper totaled 14 points and six boards and Kehoe tallied 10 rebounds, six points and three assists.

Navy will close the regular season Saturday with a 2 p.m. game at American.