BOSTON, Mass. -- After spotting Boston University (8-14, 3-6) a 14-0 lead at the start of the game and then a six-point advantage at halftime, the Navy men's basketball team (16-6, 8-1) rallied in the second half to post a 58-50 victory Wednesday night at Case Gym in Boston.

"I'm really proud of the guys," said Navy head coach Jon Perry.  "It is never easy winning on the road, especially when you play a team for the second time."

Navy had its slowest start to a game on both ends of the floor in some time.  The Terriers were 6-8 from the floor while the Mids misfired on their first eight attempts to result in that 14-point Boston lead.  A jumper by Donovan Draper at the 13:41 mark broke Navy's scoreless streak.  That basket started a 10-0 run for the Mids which drew them to within 14-10 with just under nine minutes left in the half.

Navy was able to get to within two points as 23-21 with two minutes left in the half after Jinwoo Kim made the first triple of the game for the Mids.  However, Boston scored the last four points to take a 27-21 lead at the break.

Navy made 10 field goals to 11 for Boston, but the Terriers made three triples to one for the Mids and also were 2-2 from the foul line while Navy didn't go to the charity stripe.

The Mids scored the first seven points of the second half to take their first lead of the game at 28-27.  The Terriers regained a 33-28 lead, but back came Navy with a 15-0 run to take a 43-33 advantage with 11 minutes on the clock. 

"We made some adjustments (at halftime) to our ball screen defense," said Perry, "and offensively I just challenged the guys to get open and play through some contact that we maybe not were doing in the first half."

It soon was a 47-37 Navy lead with 8:25 remaining, but Boston scored the next seven points on its way to eventually making it a 49-47 Navy lead with just over four minutes left.

Draper doubled the lead to 51-47 with an offensive board and a mid-range jumper on the first play after the media timeout.  Draper then had a steal to end the ensuing Boston possession.  Mike Woods promptly hit a jumper of his own to make a 53-47 lead, then Draper had another steal and gave the ball to Benigni who drained a pull-up three-point shot to extend the lead to 56-47 with 2:40 remaining.  That 7-0 spurt in just 65 seconds led to a timeout being called by the Terriers.

When play resumed, the Terriers sent the ball inside to Ben Defty, who was fouled before he made a move to the basket.  That was the seventh foul on the Mids, which meant Defty was shooting the bonus.  He missed the front end and the carom was grabbed by the Mids.  The Terriers extended their halfcourt defense and Navy was unable to get a clean look at the basket.  Benigni had to toss a long and challenged three-point shot that missed the mark with a little more than two minutes remaining.  Boston snared the board and then was deliberate on its resulting offensive opportunity.  In the end, Michael McNair launched a three-point shot from the right wing as the shot clock expired which went in to make it a 56-50 game with 93 seconds left.

Benigni soon drove down the lane, but lost the ball out of bounds with 1:08 left.  The Terriers then had a three-point shot and offensive rebound, another three-point shot and offensive board and a third attempt from beyond the arc.  That too missed, but this time Draper grabbed the defensive carom and he was fouled with 36.4 seconds remaining.

The Terriers had played a clean game to that point, and the foul they committed on Draper was just their third of the second half.  This meant they had to foul four more times before they were over the limit.  The Mids finally reached the bonus when Benigni was fouled with 28.1 seconds left.  He made both attempts on Navy's first trip to the charity stripe in the game to give the Mids a 58-50 lead.  Cam Cole then stole the ball with 20 seconds remaining to essentially end the game.

"We had to execute down the stretch some late game inbounds plays while we were getting fouled," said Perry.  "Our small lineup out there did a great job with that."

Navy outscored Boston 37-23 after halftime.  Boston narrowly outshot Navy percentage wise in the first half, 44-43.5 percent, but the Mids shot 53.6 percent (15-28) from the floor after halftime and limited the Terriers to a 32-percent effort (8-25).  The Mids were 5-11 (45.5%) from three-point range after halftime while Boston was 3-12 (25%).  Navy also held an 18-15 edge on the glass after halftime and committed just two turnovers while forcing five.  

The Terriers ended the game 6-9 from the foul line.

The only prior games in which Navy had taken two or fewer free throw attempts was when it attempted two against Bucknell on March 2, 2013, and just one against UMBC on Dec. 30, 2013.

Navy last overcame a deficit of at least 14 points to win a game when it rallied after trailing Bucknell by 17 points on Jan. 2, 2021.

Benigni scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half when he was 5-8 from the floor and 2-4 from three-point range.  He also totaled five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in his 40 minutes of playing time.

Jinwoo Kim made all three of his second half three-point shots as part of a 4-4 night from long range in totaling 12 points, Draper finished with eight points, five rebounds and four steals and Woods tallied eight points and five boards.

"It was a tale of two halves," said Perry.  "In the second half we had a number of guys step up and shoot the ball better from three.  Mike Woods had a great second half with eight points.  Jinwoo Kim was 3-3 from three, and I thought Donovan Draper made some big plays defensively that might not show up in the box score.  We had to go small, and when went small we had to trap in the post and we were able to get some turnovers which led to some easy baskets in transition.  That really got us going."

Aidan Kehoe entered the day leading the NCAA in field goal percentage and Defty ranked fifth nationally.  Kehoe was 3-5 from the floor in totaling six points, nine rebounds and three steals, while Defty was 8-10 from the floor in posting 19 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

Navy will be home Saturday for a 4 p.m. game against Loyola.