BOSTON, Mass. -- Fast starts at the beginning of the first and second half propelled the Navy men's basketball team to a lead it would not relinquish during an 86-78 victory over Boston University, Thursday night at Case Gym in Boston in a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal round game.  The victory by the fifth-seeded Mids (14-18) over the No. 4 Terriers (16-16) advances Navy to a semifinal round game Sunday at top-seeded Bucknell.  That game will tip at noon and be carried on the CBS Sports Network.

"I'm really proud of our team," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. "It was a really hard fought game by both teams.  We came on the road to play a team that really embarrassed us a few weeks ago (87-65 on Feb. 5).  We had a bad taste in our mouth from that.  The guys really came through."  

Navy scored on five-straight possessions to go on a 13-0 run during the early part of the game and take a 15-4 lead with 12:35 left in the first half.

Donovan Draper scored after he grabbed an offensive board, scored on a layup and hit a three-point shot on Navy's ensuing possession.  Lysander Rehnstrom then drilled back-to-back triples –– the second after a block by Draper –– to account for the 13-point run.

"We needed to be aggressive," said DeChellis. "They (Boston) are a very good halfcourt team and we wanted them to play a little faster.  It was good for us.  They have turned the ball over at a high rate and we thought we get into them, go after the ball and keep them off balance.  Our guys did a very good job of that."

"We just tried to get up in them and start the game off right," said Austin Benigni, who scored 30 points tonight.  "We didn't want to give them any easy shots.  We tried to emphasize not giving them open threes.  The guys did a good job of that in the first half.  That allowed us to get out running, get in transition and get some stops. They shot a lot of threes, so that's a lot of long rebounds for us."

The Terriers whittled the margin down to two points at 21-19, but a quick 5-0 run on a Jordan Pennick three and a jumper by Benigni after Mike Woods had grabbed an offensive carom gave the Mids a little breathing room at 26-19.  The lead would grow to nine points –– 32-23 –– before a three-point basket by Miles Brewster as the first half horn sounded made it a 32-26 game at the break.

The Mids made four triples and 13 field goals in the first half while the Terriers made a pair of threes and eight field goals in all.  Boston was 8-9 from the foul line to a 2-2 effort by Navy.

Turnovers were a big part of the first half story.  Navy scored 18 points after 10 Boston turnovers while the Terriers tallied just four points after the five turnovers committed by the Mids.

Navy scored on each of its first five possessions at the start of the second half to extend its lead to 42-31 less than four minutes into the frame.  Pennick scored on the first offensive set of the half, then Benigni scored back-to-back layups.  Aidan Kehoe scored off of an offensive rebound and Jinwoo Kim scored on a breakaway layup to end the opening stretch.

Neither team scored again until Benigni made the second of two foul shots to make the score 43-31 with 15 minutes remaining.

The Terriers slowly drew to within six points at 48-42 with just under 12 minutes left, but it took all of 10 seconds before the lead grew back to nine points as Woods grabbed an offensive board and scored while being fouled.  He made the foul shot to give Navy a 51-42 lead.

Boston would close to within seven points at 51-44 and 53-46, but Navy scored the next five points to rebuild its 12-point lead at 58-46 with 9:28 left to play.  The cushion would remain in double figures until the Terriers made it an eight-point game at 64-56 with 6:17 showing in the clock.  Navy again took a double digit lead at 67-56 and then 69-58.  

Back came Boston and soon the score was 69-63 with 4:08 left to play.  Benigni was fouled on the next possession and he made both foul shots.  A missed shot by the Terriers was grabbed by Benigni and he scored on the other end to make it a 73-63 lead with 3:13 remaining.  It became a 77-66 game with 2:18 left, then the cushion dwindled to 77-71 with 1:22 left to play.

The Mids gave the ball in Benigni and he was fouled two seconds later.  He made both foul shots.  Another missed shot by the Terriers was grabbed by Draper and he too got the ball into the hands of Benigni who again was fouled.  He made the two opportunities at the line to stretch the lead to 81-71 with 65 seconds left.

The Terriers had one more run in them as they drew to within four points at 82-78 with 19.0 seconds left.  Benigni was fouled on the inbounds pass with no time running off the clock.  He walked to the other end and made both attempts.  Boston missed a shot on its next possession but grabbed the offensive board.  Woods, who had seven steals Saturday against Loyola, registered his third steal of this game with scant time remaining on the clock.  Draper was fouled and his two makes with 0.8 seconds left closed out the scoring.

Both teams shot the ball well in the second half as the Mids made 60 percent of their attempts and the Terriers 54.3 percent.  Navy ended the game shooting 51.9 percent and Boston was at 50.0 percent.  Navy made one more field goal (28-27) and one less three-point shot (7-6) for the game. The Mids were 24-30 from the foul line –– 22-28 after halftime –– and the Terriers were 17-19 from the stripe.

Navy ended the game with 27 points after the 17 turnovers by Boston and the Terriers recorded eight points after the seven turnovers committed by the Mids.

Benigni became the third Mid to score at least 30 points in a Patriot League Tournament game (37 by Greg Sprink on March 5, 2008, in three overtimes vs. Bucknell; 30 by T.J. Hall on March 4, 1994, vs. Army).  He scored 24 of his 30 points after halftime when he was 5-8 from the floor and 14-16 from the foul line.  Benigni also dished out six assists in the game.

Draper finished the night with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.  Kehoe just missed a double-double as he tallied 14 points and nine rebounds.  Kehoe was 6-6 from the floor tonight after he was 5-5 from the field in each of his last two games. The 16-straight made field goals ranks second to the 20 in a row made by Evan Wieck from Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 2020.

"Great effort by Benigni tonight; great effort by Draper and Kehoe," said DeChellis.  "We had some guys really step up and play well and play hard.  We survive and advance."