ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Aidan Kehoe and Donovan Draper each had a double-double and combined for 37 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists in an 81-58 victory by the Navy men's basketball team (4-10, 1-0) over American (6-8, 0-1), Thursday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The result marked the seventh year in a row in which the Mids won their Patriot League opening game.

"Really proud of our team," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis, who with the victory moved past Don DeVoe and into sole possession of third place for the most wins by a head coach at Navy with 185 wins.  "We have been through some adversity, but I think we have been playing better lately.  Tonight, I thought we put 40 minutes together for the first time in a long time."

Navy, which was playing its first game in Alumni Hall since Nov. 25, took early leads of 8-2 and 16-6 and then used a 10-2 run to build a 26-12 lead with just over nine minutes left before halftime.  A 7-0 Navy spurt eventually gave it a 38-23 advantage. The Mids went into halftime holding a 42-29 lead.

Navy shot 51.6 percent from the field in the first half, with Draper and Kehoe a collective 8-9 from the floor.  The duo combined for 22 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists in the first 20 minutes of play.  Defensively, Navy limited American to a 33.3-percent shooting effort in the first half.

American drew to within nine points early in the second half at 43-34 and 47-36.  Navy was able to return the lead to 14 points at 54-40 with just under 16 minutes still to play.

It was a 57-45 Navy lead when American quickly closed the margin down to six points at 57-51 with 12:35 remaining on the clock.  The Mids slowly scored the next eight points over a four-minute span to take the cushion back to double figures at 65-51 with 8:20 showing on the clock.  After a made foul shot by the Eagles (65-52), Navy scored nine of the next 11 points to see its lead balloon to 74-54 with a little less than five minutes left to play.

Navy improved its shooting in the second half to 58.3 percent to end the game with a season-best overall mark of 54.5 percent.  American ended the evening with an overall percentage of 37.5 percent.

The Eagles were 9-33 (27.3%) from behind the three-point line while the Mids were a judicious 5-14 (35.7%).  Navy also was 16-23 (69.6%) from the charity stripe while American was 7-11 (63.6%).

Navy won both the rebounding and turnover contests as the Mids led the Eagles 38-28 on the glass and forced American into nine turnovers while committing six of their own.

"We scored with the ball," said DeChellis.  "Defensively, we were pretty good.  The first seven or eight minutes of the second half we were not, but then we got our legs again and defended."

Draper finished the game with 17 points on 6-7 shooting from the floor, which included him making both of the three-point attempts he took, and made all three of his free throws.  He also registered 11 rebounds -- all on the defensive end -- and dished out a career-high eight assists.  Kehoe posted a career-high 20 points on 8-11 shooting from the field and a 4-7 effort from the foul line and added 11 rebounds and three assists.  

The pair combined for 11 of Navy's 13 points during one second-half stretch

"I thought Key (Kehoe) was really good," said DeChellis.  "The game is starting to slow down a bit for him.  I thought he finished.  I thought Draper did a good job.  He had some really good assists tonight.  I thought we executed zone offense and we executed man offense.

"Really, really proud of our guys."

Austin Benigni made it three Mids in double figures as he totaled 16 points and four assists.  The Mids nearly had five reach double digits for the second game in a row as Jinwoo Kim and Jordan Pennick each recorded nine points.

Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Sunday to play host to Lafayette at 2 p.m.