ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Four seniors and five players in all scored in double figures for the Navy men's basketball team in an 84-56 victory by the Mids (15-6, 7-1) over Army (8-13, 2-6), Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

"I thought our staff did a really good job of preparing these guys," said Navy's Jon Perry, who became the seventh Navy head coach (out of 13) to win his first Army-Navy game.  "We have had incredible focus the last two days.  It is a blessing to have a veteran group.  They have been in these games and understand the preparation and what the crowd and environment will be like."

Both teams had an early run that led to a stalemate on the scoreboard.  The Mids then turned a 19-18 deficit into 26-19 and 30-22 leads, with the latter coming with just under four minutes left in the first half.  Army hit a three-point basket, but Navy responded by scoring seven of the next eight points to build a 37-26 cushion on its way to taking a 46-34 lead at the break.

Navy's 46 points tied the Army-Navy record for the most first half points by either team in the series.  It was last accomplished in 1990 and has now been tallied four times.

The Black Knights opened the scoring in the second half with its eighth three-point basket of the game to draw to within single digits at 46-37.  Navy team captain Mike Woods answered by scoring the next seven points to stretch the cushion to 53-37.  The lead grew to 20 points when a 9-3 run gave the Mids a 66-46 lead with just under 10 minutes left on the clock and it was at least a 20-point lead over the final 8:30 of the game.

"Really proud of us defensively in the second half," said Perry. "We made a couple of minor adjustments in what we were doing."

Army entered the game leading the Patriot League in scoring offense (78.6 ppg) and three-point field goals made a game (10.9) during the league season.  Today, the Black Knights were 7-19 (36.8%) from three-point range in the first half, but only 2-15 (13.3%) from beyond the arc in the second half.  That gave them a mark of 26.5 percent (9-34) for the game, which was part of an overall shooting percentage of 37.7 percent.

Conversely, the Mids –– who lead the league in scoring defense (64.6 ppg), rank sixth in scoring offense (73.9 ppg) and ninth in three-point field goals made a game (7.0) -- also made seven treys in the first half and added four more in the second while shooting 55 percent (11-20) for the game.  Navy was 18-30 in its two-point attempts to finish with an overall shooting mark of 58 percent.

"They (Army) are going to shoot (three-pointers)," said Perry.  "That's what they are committed to.  That's what we talked about for two days; don't get wound up if they make a couple.  That's part of it.  I got into these guys about not making it a three-point contest and I think I might have stirred the pot a bit.  They wanted to tell me that they could make threes too.

"We respect them (Army). I think Kevin (Kuwik) is doing a really good job.  His style of play is hard to prepare for.  We have not seen that many shooters on the floor, and the spacing and ball movement.  They put you in a lot of rotations that we had not had to prepare for yet.  We had to grow as a team."

Navy was credited with 21 assists on its 29 made field goals, while Army had 13 helpers on its 20 baskets.  The Mids also were 15-20 from the foul line in contrast to the 7-12 effort by the Black Knights.

The Mids won the rebounding statistics, 38-21, and despite holding just a 10-8 edge in offensive boards recorded a 14-4 advantage in second-chance points.  

Both teams had 13 turnovers.

It was the largest margin of victory for either team in the series since the Mids won by a record 35 points in 1999.

Individually, Austin Benigni finished with 19 points and six assists, Woods recorded 17 points and Aidan Kehoe recorded a double-double of 13 points and 11 caroms.  Also for Navy, Donovan Draper posted 11 points and five rebounds while Cam Cole chipped in 10 points, seven assists and five boards.

Woods made a career-high four three-point field goals to finish one point shy of tying his career high of 18, Kehoe was 5-6 from the floor and Benigni scored 15 first-half points and finished the game with a trio of three-point field goals made.

"Coach has been telling me the last few days to be aggressive and be confident and look at the rim when I am out there," said Woods, who entered the day 2-8 from three-point range in league games this season before going 4-5 today.  "It is easy to look for Aidan because he is such an efficient scorer, but he draws so much attention that he opens shots for us.  I was able to capitalize today with that and the confidence of my teammates around me."

Benigni, Woods, Kehoe and Draper are all seniors.

"All Patriot League games are highly contested," said Perry.  "This one is just a little different. Our seniors have been in these moments.  We have been on the other side of this thing.  There are lessons learned and shared from those experiences."

Navy will head to Boston this week for a Wednesday game against the Terriers.