WORCESTER, Mass. -- Aidan Kehoe was 9-10 from the floor and Austin Benigni was 11-11 from the foul line during a 65-58 victory by the Navy men's basketball team (10-5, 2-0) over Holy Cross (6-9, 1-1), Saturday afternoon at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass.  The victory was Navy's sixth in a row and gives the Mids a 2-0 record in Patriot League play for the second year in a row and the fifth time in eight years.

"I thought we did a great job on the defensive end in the first 36 minutes," said Navy head coach Jon Perry.  "I was really happy. We were playing with some lineups we hadn't used all year due to foul trouble.  Just excited for the guys to get their first road win in the league."

The Crusaders scored the opening five points of the game, but the Mids scored the next eight and eventually took leads of 17-11 and 19-13.  Holy Cross winnowed the margin down to two points at 19-17 only to see Navy take its largest lead of the stanza at 26-17.  The teams went into halftime with Navy in front 28-21.

The Mids extended their lead out to 36-23 four minutes into the second half behind six quick points from Kehoe.  It then was a 44-33 lead when Holy Cross scored the next seven points to make it a 44-40 game with 9:24 still to play.  The teams traded baskets (46-42, 8:35), then a triple from Jordan Pennick followed by a pair of free throws from Cam Cole gave the Mids a 51-42 lead with 7:31 remaining.

Another several minutes of the teams exchanging scoring possessions made it a 55-47 game with 3:35 left.  Joe Nugent next hit a triple for Holy Cross to make it a five-point game (55-50), then the teams each came away with an empty possession.  Benigni broke the small drought with a layup in a halfcourt set with 2:30 remaining that made the score 57-50.  Each team again came away without any points on their next opportunity, then Aiden Diso scored on a second-chance possession for the Crusaders and it was back to a five-point game at 57-52 with 1:22 still left on the clock.

Holy Cross called timeout and Navy took its time once play resumed.  Benigni dribbled the ball near the timeline until the 20 seconds had expired off the 30-second shot clock.  He eventually drove the lane and was fouled with 59.0 seconds left.  Benigni converted both attempts from the charity stripe to push the cushion back to seven points at 59-52.

The Crusaders missed a rushed triple, but grabbed the offensive board and Diso was fouled with 47.1 seconds still to play.  He would only make the first of his two foul shots to make the score 59-53.  Cole snared the defensive carom and was fouled with 44.1 seconds remaining.  He walked to the other end of the floor and calmly made both free throws to give Navy a 61-53 advantage.

Holy Cross shaved three points off of that deficit when Tyler Boston made his third three-point field goal of the second half with 32.3 seconds left, after which the Crusaders called timeout.  The Mids inbounded the ball to Benigni, who was fouled with 30.9 seconds remaining.  He made both free throws and it was a 63-56 game.  The Crusaders again missed a shot, but again grabbed the offensive board.  This time it was Boston to grab the carom and he was promptly fouled with 20.3 seconds left.  He made each of his two offerings to make the score 63-58.  Navy again gave the ball to Benigni when play resumed, and he was fouled with 18.8 seconds left.  The senior capped his perfect effort from the foul line to account for what proved to be the final points of the game.

Navy shot 52.2 percent from the field in the second half to end the game with an overall mark of 48.0 percent.  This was despite the Mids shooting just 2-12 (16.7%) from three-point range on the afternoon.  Navy also was 15-18 from the foul line in the game.

Holy Cross was 1-10 from three-point land in the first half, but 6-14 from long range in the second half.  That helped the Crusaders to an overall shooting mark of 36.4 percent in the game.  Holy Cross also was 11-14 from the charity stripe.

"I thought our perimeter players did a nice job," said Perry.  They stepped up on the defensive end and rebounded the basketball.  We switched a lot of their actions to try and take away their threes. Really happy for those guys.

"Our communication was very good.  The guys were really locked into the scout after two good days of practice.  You have some senior leadership out there." 

Both teams ended the game was 32 rebounds, but Holy Cross held an 18-6 edge in second-chance points.  

The Mids scored 42 of their 65 points in the paint and limited the Crusaders to 14 such points.

Kehoe began the game 8-8 from the floor and ended it with 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.  Benigni scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half and added five assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Benigni dished out assists on Navy's second and third baskets of the game to become the seventh Patriot League player during the league era to total 1,500 points and 400 assists in a career.  He is the first Mid in school history -- regardless of era -- to accomplish the feat. 

Navy starts a week of home league games with a Wednesday contest against Bucknell.