ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Aidan Kehoe, Austin Benigni and Jordan Pennick all scored at least 20 points as the Navy men's basketball team (11-5, 3-0) posted a 76-55 victory over Bucknell (4-12, 2-1), Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.  The win was the seventh in a row for the Mids and gives them a 3-0 start to league play for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

Navy last won seven games in a row during the 2022-23 season.

"It is a long race," said Navy head coach Jon Perry of the recent success.  "I just talked to these guys about keep climbing.  Every game is one step higher and a little more challenging.  We have to get better.  I am really proud of the guys over the last two and half week of their work ethic and their coming prepared each day to practice.  They have a will to prepare to win.  If they have that will to prepare, then good things are going to happen."

The Mids struggled a bit offensively at the start of the game as they fell behind 17-11, but then closed to within 20-18 with 8:40 left to play in the half.  The Bucknell lead hovered between two and six points until a 5-0 Navy run tied the game at 28-28 with three minutes remaining in the half, then a Pennick triple gave Navy a 31-30 lead with 90 seconds left on the clock.  The teams traded baskets over the rest of the half to send the Mids into halftime with a 33-32 lead.

The Mids ended the first half on a 10-4 run, then started the second half on a 20-3 spurt to turn a 28-23 deficit into a 53-35 advantage.

Navy scored on each of its first three possessions of the second half on a layup by Kehoe and back-to-back triples from Pennick.  After a Bucknell timeout, Pennick added a jumper to give the Mids a 10-0 run in less than three minutes of playing time.  Following a basket by the Bison, Kehoe accounted for the next three Navy field goals.  Cam Cole followed with a pair of free throws and then recorded a steal and found Mike Woods for a breakaway dunk to close out the run.

"We call it the middle eight," said Perry, of the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.  "We got settled in defensively at the end of the first half.  We started to get the ball inside. Once we settled in, we were able to start to run a bit in transition.  At the start of the second half, we made a couple of defensive adjustments.  The staff did a great job with video (at halftime); we walked through a couple of things on the board, and I think that really fueled our start to the second half."

An 8-0 run in the middle part of the second half gave the Mids their largest lead of the game at 65-42 with 8:55 still to play.  Navy led by at least 18 points over the remainder of the game.

Navy shot 53.6 percent from the floor in the second half, which included a 5-10 (50%) effort from three-point range.  That gave the Mids an overall shooting mark of 47.3 percent and a 10-23 (43.5%) showing from three-point land.  Conversely, Bucknell made just 27.6 percent of its second half shots and was only 3-17 (17.6%) from beyond the arc after halftime.  The Bison ended the game shooting 34 percent overall and were 8-31 (25.8%) from three-point range.

"I challenged our team with their ball pressure," said Perry.  "I thought they (Bucknell) were able to run their stuff and get open threes because we didn't have enough pressure on the ball.  I thought the first four minutes of the second half and even through the second half we really heated up the ball.  I thought the guys responded well to that."

Navy also held advantages of 42-27 on the glass, 32-20 in points scored in the paint and 15-5 in second-chance points.  

Kehoe entered the day ranked second nationally with a shooting percentage of 70.6 percent this season and he upped his percentage (71.9%) as he was 8-9 from the floor tonight.  Kehoe scored 20 points and added 12 rebounds to recorded his seventh double-double of the season and the 15th of his career.  Kehoe joins Hassan Booker (1997-98) and Greg Sprink (2007-08) as the only Mids in the post-David Robinson era (1988-89 to present) with four 20-point double-doubles in a season.

"It is all about balance with him (Kehoe)," said Perry.  "Last year he wasn't posting as deep.  This year we are starting to get some actions where he gets deeper post-ups.  He has great hands and catches a lot of tough passes, and we have to get better at getting the ball into him in the post."

Pennick started tonight's game in place of Donovan Draper, who had started 38-straight and 71 of the last 73 games but was injured in the second half of Navy's game Saturday at Holy Cross.  Pennick made the most of the opportunity as he was 7-12 from long range to better his career high of six triples in a game and finish just two treys shy of tying the Navy record of nine as part of his 20-point effort.

"That's just been the tale of this season," said Pennick and stepping in for Draper.  "All year it has just been that I have to step up and be a spark for the team.  Our brother went down, but it is next man up."

"He is just working hard," said Perry of Pennick.  "That's growth on his part.  He has been in the gym and working on everything.  I am proud of him working on his defense over the last two and a half weeks.  I think if you are maybe not making shots, there are a lot of other ways to impact the game.  Jordan has become much better all-around offensively, and his rebounding on the defensive end and his defensive effort can sometimes help you on the offensive end.

Benigni finished with 23 points to give him 27, 23 and 23 points in Navy's three league games this season.  He also contributed six assists and six rebounds.

It is the sixth time in school history in which three Mids have scored at least 20 points in a game and the first since Shawn Anderson (30), Bryce Dulin (21) and Hasan Abdullah (21) did so in an overtime game against Army on Jan. 21, 2017.  The last time it was accomplished in a regulation-length game was Feb. 16, 1985, when David Robinson (31), Vernon Butler (24) and Kylor Whitaker (20) achieved it against William & Mary.

Not to be lost in the effort of those three players was the play of Cole and Woods.  The former finished with a career-high seven assists and a career-best four steals while the latter posted five points, nine rebounds and two steals.

Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Saturday when the Mids play host to Lafayette at 2 p.m.