WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Jordan Pennick's sixth three-point field goal of the evening broke a tie with less than three minutes remaining and triggered a game-closing 12-4 run that gave the Navy (12-18, 9-8) men's basketball team a 68-60 victory over American (18-12, 12-5), Wednesday night at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C.

The result was American's first home league regular season loss since the Mids defeated the Eagles in the 2024 regular season finale and just its second home loss in 13 games over the course of the 2024-25 season.

Navy has assured itself of a first round bye in next week's Patriot League Tournament.  The Mids could be seeded anywhere from Nos. 3-6 depending upon how Saturday's games play out.

"It was a hard fought game by both teams," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "I think at the end we had a 12-4 run and made our free throws, for the most part.  I thought defensively we were very, very good.  Coming into the game that was our focus point.  They shot only 37 percent from the floor and 22 percent from three.  We really wanted to take away the three-point shot. They made four early in the first half but only made three the rest of the game."

Neither team held any significant lead in the first half, which ended with Navy holding a 30-27 advantage.  The Eagles briefly held a six-point lead in the first half (11-5), then the Mids matched that margin by taking a 33-27 lead in the opening moments of the second half.  There were nine lead changes and the score was tied five times in the game, with the last tie coming at 56-56 with 4:55 left on the clock.

There was no scoring until Pennick's fourth triple of the second half -- from the top of the key as the shot clock was about to expire -- gave Navy a 59-56 lead with 2:47 remaining.  The Mids committed a foul on the other end, but American's Greg Jones Jr. missed both attempts from the line.  The Mids turned the ball over, and then they fouled Matt Rogers on a move to the basket.  He would make both attempts to winnow the margin down to 59-58 with 2:06 still to play.

Austin Benigni then drove down the lane and Rogers committed his fifth foul as he was defending the basket.  Benigni made just one of his two attempts to make it a 60-58 game with 1:45 left on the clock.

The Eagles advanced the ball over halfcourt and called timeout.  When play resumed, Jones drove along the baseline but stepped out of bounds to give the ball back to Navy with 1:27 remaining.  

The Mids took their time with the ball and eventually Benigni made a move to the basket.  Somewhat trapped in the lane, he squeezed a pass to a cutting Jinwoo Kim who layed it in to give Navy a 62-58 lead with 65 seconds left.  The Eagles tried a long three-point attempt on the other end, which missed the mark.  Donovan Draper was there for the carom.  He gave the ball to Benigni, who was immediately fouled with 44.5 seconds still to play.  He made both free throw attempts to push the advantage to 64-58.

Navy fouled Matt Mayock as he was trying for an offensive rebound on the other end of the court.  He missed the front end of the bonus, but Jones was there for the rebound and he scored with 34.2 seconds left to make it a 64-60 game.  The Eagles called timeout, and when play resumed the Mids gave the ball to Benigni who was fouled with 33.5 seconds remaining.  He missed his first attempt from the line but made the second to make the score 65-60.

A missed shot by Mayock resulted in Draper being fouled on the loose ball.  He made the first shot (66-60) and missed the second with 28.8 seconds showing on the clock.  Another missed shot by the Eagles was snared by Kim, who was fouled with 20.5 seconds left.  He too would go 1 of 2 from the line (67-60), but that was followed by the Eagles missing one more three-point attempt.  Draper grabbed his career-high tying 16 rebounds -- he also had 16 rebounds Sunday against Holy Cross -- with a scant 10.7 seconds still to play.  He missed the first attempt and made the second to close out the scoring.

"Our guys fought down the stretch," said DeChellis.  "They made plays, got big rebounds, made toughness plays, so I am really proud of them.

Navy held a 21-12 lead on the glass in the second half and a 40-28 overall advantage on the night.  Navy has now outrebounded American in 18 of the last 24 games, with the teams tying iun rebounding in two of those games.  That effort on the boards helped the Mids with their being on the wrong end of the turnover statistic as they committed 14 turnovers and forced nine.  Navy committed 10 of those turnovers in the second half when American turned the ball over just five times.

The Mids took 11 fewer shots from the floor (56-45), but made the same number of field goals as American (21).  Navy shot 46.7 percent from the field for the game and the Eagles made 37.5 percent of their shots.  Navy was 20-30 (66.7%) from the foul line -- the Mids were 7-12 from the stripe in the last 105 seconds -- and American was 11-17 (64.75).

Pennick was 4-5 from three-point land in scoring 15 second half points.  He totaled a 6-8 effort from beyond the arc as part of a 6-10 overall shooting performance to score 22 points.

"He made some big shots," said DeChellis of Pennick.  "He made one at the buzzer there at the top of the key.  American had thrown in two on their end; then banked one in and made another at the end of the shot clock.  

Mike Woods didn't miss a shot as he was 4-4 from the floor and the foul line in scoring 12 points.  Benigni didn't make his first field goal until the 12:51 mark of the second half and was limited to 11 points.  Aidan Kehoe was 5-5 from the floor in scoring 10 points to go along with five rebounds and three blocks.  Draper snared nine of his 16 boards in the second half and added six points.  Kim contributed seven points and seven rebounds.

"Draper was unbelievable tonight with 16 rebounds," said DeChellis.  "He was all over the place rebounding the ball.  And everyone else chipped in and did what they had to do.  Four guys in double figures.  Mike Woods was outstanding again off the bench.  Total team effort.  Big win for us.  Our kids had great focus, great energy and exuded some toughness."

Navy will close its regular season Saturday when it plays host to Loyola at 4 p.m.  The Senior Day ceremony for the Class of 2025 will begin at 3:40 p.m.

Standings (Saturday schedule)
T1 American - 12-5 (at Colgate)
T1 Bucknell - 12-5 (at Holy Cross)
T3 Army - 10-7 (Lehigh)
T3 Colgate - 10-7 (American)
T5 Boston - 9-8 (Lafayette)
T5 Navy - 9-8 (Loyola)
7 Lafayette - 7-10 (at Boston)
8 Loyola - 6-11 (at Navy)
T9 Holy Cross - 5-12 (Bucknell)
T9 Lehigh - 5-12 (at Army)