ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Aidan Kehoe scored a career-high 29 points as the Navy (14-6, 6-1) men's basketball team led for the final 32 minutes of an 85-68 victory over Holy Cross (8-12, 3-4), Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

Navy took an early 23-15 lead, then saw Holy Cross –– which was playing without an injured Tyler Boston, who leads the team in both points and assists –– close to within 25-21 before the Mids opened up a 31-21 advantage with 5:30 left in the half.  The Crusaders needed less than a minute to make it a six-point game at 31-25.  Navy answered by taking 35-25 and 40-29 leads before Holy Cross hit a three pointer just before the halftime buzzer to make it a 42-34 lead for the Mids at the break.

"I thought Holy Cross played a really good first half," said Navy head coach Jon Perry. "We couldn't get consecutive stops.  Luckily we were scoring."

Both teams shot the ball very well in the first half as Navy made 66.7 percent of its shots and Holy Cross made 51.9 percent of its attempts.  Both teams made 14 field goals, but the Mids were 12-18 from the foul line while the Crusaders were 3-4.

Kehoe was 5-5 from the floor and 7-10 from the free throw line in scoring 17 points, while Austin Benigni also was 5-5 from field and made a pair of triples in scoring 12 points.

Navy slowly took a 13-point lead at 53-40, but Holy Cross quickly sliced it down to 55-49 with 11:40 showing on the clock.  The teams traded turnovers and then each scored two points on their ensuing possession.  The Crusaders scored the next four points and it was a 59-55 game with a little more than eight minutes still to play.

A missed shot by both teams was followed by Holy Cross missing again with the rebound going out of bounds.  When play resumed, Jinwoo Kim inbounded the ball to a sprinting Cam Cole, who gathered in the offering on the other side of halfcourt and kept going for a dunk that gave Navy a 61-55 lead.  The Crusaders scored on the other end and then forced a turnover just under the Navy basket.  However, Will Aljancic, who had made the steal, lost the ball and Cole was there to grab it and flip it to Kehoe for a basket while being fouled.  His made free throw gave the Mids a 64-57 lead with 6:46 still to play.

Holy Cross answered yet again with a three-point basket by DeAndre Williams.  Benigni was fouled while bringing the ball up the court and he made a pair of foul shots, but Aiden Disu scored for Holy Cross to keep the margin at four points (66-62) with just over six minutes remaining.

Kim promptly drilled a three-point basket for the Mids, then Disu made one foul shot for Holy Cross to make it a 69-63 game.  Kim was fouled and made both free throws, then a combined three-straight empty possessions by the teams was followed by Kehoe scoring on a layup to stretch the lead to 71-63 with four minutes left.  Both teams missed shots, then an old fashioned three-point play by Williams made it a 73-66 game with three minutes remaining.

Donovan Draper connected on a three-point basket, Williams missed a triple and Benigni made a trey and suddenly the lead ballooned to 79-66 with 1:55 showing on the clock.  

"In the second half," said Perry, "we started to pull away and Holy Cross wasn't going to give up.  They have some resiliency, some fight in them.  I am just proud of our team.  In those timeouts, they never blinked, never wavered.  Those guys are calm, cool, collected because they have won a lot of different ways, and we have experienced losing a lot of different ways.  You lean on these guys."

Navy ended the game shooting 55.8 percent from the floor (29-52), which included a 6-17 (35.3%) effort from three-point range. The Mids had 22 assists on their 29 made field goals.  Holy Cross finished the 40 minutes making 48.1 percent of its total shots (26-54) and was 6-19 (31.6%) from beyond the arc.  The key difference was the foul line where the Mids were 21-27 (77.8%) and the Crusaders were 10-12 (83.3%).

"I have been harping on these guys all year about sharing the basketball," said Perry. "To me, that's basketball.  When the ball is popping like that, we are really hard to guard and it is fun to watch."

"It is a testament to the trust we have in each other," said Benigni on sharing the basketball.  "Obviously some guys are going to score, but seeing other guys knock down those shots is the best feeling, especially when you know they have been going through a slump.  Seeing those guys build their confidence back up was huge for us moving forward.  That just fuels us for sharing the ball more."

Holy Cross held a slim 28-26 lead on the glass.  Despite the Crusaders also finishing with more offensive rebounds (8-5), the Mids scored more second-chance points (12-9).  Additionally, Navy tied a season low with just six turnovers while it forced 13.

Kehoe's 29 points bettered his previous career high of 23.  He was 10-12 from the field and 9-12 from the free throw line.  Kehoe also added seven rebounds and three assists.  

Benigni drained four three-point field goals on his way to scoring 25 points and also adding four assists.  Kim had his best scoring game in some time as he posted 18 points.  Draper also had a solid all-around statistical night as he accrued seven points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Navy will be home Saturday to play host to Army.  The women's game between the two service academy rivals starts at 11 a.m. with the men's game tipping at 1:30 p.m.