ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's basketball team took the lead 16 seconds in the game and maintained an advantage for the remainder of an eventual 64-48 Patriot League Tournament first round victory over Loyola, Tuesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.  The victory by the seventh-seeded Mids (13-17) over the 10th seeded Greyhounds (7-25) advances Navy to a Thursday night quarterfinal round game at No. 2 Boston U.

The win was the 400th in the head coaching career of Navy's Ed DeChellis.

"I am really proud of our guys," said DeChellis.  "I thought we played really, really hard tonight.  We knew it was gong to be a hard-fought game.  (We have) great respect for Loyola, their players and (head coach) Tavaras Hardy.  We had two really tough games (with Loyola).  We got beat here and won there, but they were close.  We knew it was going to be hard."

"It feels great," said second-team all-league honoree Austin Benigni. "This is what you live for, right?  Playing in March, playing in a tournament.  Just keep on moving forward, keeping our head down and knowing what we have to do."

Navy jumped out to a 7-0 and 12-1 lead as it held Loyola to a 0-10 shooting effort at the start of the game.  The Mids soon led, 23-14, and had a possession to extend the lead, but Loyola was able to close to within three points at 25-22 and 28-25 as Deon Perry made his second, third and fourth three-point field goals of the half.  It then was a one-point Navy lead at 28-27 before the Mids ran off the last five points of the half to take a 34-27 advantage at the break.

Loyola opened the second half with four quick points to make the score 34-31, but Navy scored 11 of the next 12 points to take a 45-32 lead with just under 13 minutes left on the clock.  Another basket by Perry (45-34) was followed by an 8-3 run by the Mids that pushed the advantage to 53-37 with eight minutes remaining.  It soon became a 60-43 cushion with just under four minutes still to play.

Navy held Loyola to 27 percent shooting for the game while the Mids made 44 percent of their field goal attempts.  The two best teams in the Patriot League at grabbing offensive rebounds snared a total of 27 in the game (11 for Navy).  The Mids won the overall rebounding column, 44-35.

Individually for Navy, Benigni totaled 24 points, Donovan Draper notched a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds and Aidan Kehoe totaled 11 rebounds, nine points, five assists, two steals and two blocks.  

"I thought Draper played well, I thought Benigni played well and I thought the unsung hero of the game for us was Kehoe," said DeChellis. "He had 11 rebounds, nine points, and five assists; he clogged up the middle.  I think they (Loyola) only had 16 points in the paint, which is really important.  We made them score over Kehoe.  And we had 30 points in the paint.

"Defensively, to hold a team to 48 points, you like to think you have a chance to win.  Defensively we have been a much improved team the last five or six games.  That's a credit to our players.  They have done a great job."

Benigni was 10-10 from the foul line to join Mike Heary (16-16, 1997) as the only Mids to be perfect from the foul line with at least eight attempts during the league tournament game.  He also surpassed David Robinson for the most free throws made in a season by a Navy sophomore (167).

Draper's 11 defensive rebounds tied the school record for the most by a Mid in a tournament game (Tom Lacey, 2016).  

Perry did not make a three-point field goal in the second half (0-3) and ended the game with 21 points.

DeChellis is in his 28th season as a head coach with previous stops at East Tennessee State and Penn State.

"There are a lot of losses," said DeChellis when asked about reaching 400 wins.  "A lot of late nights.  My family went through a whole bunch.  I am just really, really happy for my family, my wife Kim and three daughters and now grandkids and son-in-laws who have been through this journey with me.  You don't do this profession by yourself.  There is a lot to it, and there is a lot of sacrifice by my wife, a lot sacrifice by my three girls.  I am proud of the achievement, but there is a lot that went into it.  I am thankful for the kids to get this one.  I didn't know it until the other night when someone told me I had 399 and I asked him what he meant by that.

"It is nice to get number 400 here at home, in March and especially in the tournament.  I will remember it for a long time."

Navy split its two games with Boston this season as the home team won each game.