ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A memorable senior day saw the Navy men's basketball team's Class of 2026 account for 60 points as the Mids (25-6) capped a 17-1 Patriot League regular season with an 85-69 victory over Colgate (17-14, 11-7), Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

It was just the second 17-1 season recorded by a Patriot League team since the league expanded to an 18-game slate with the 2013-14 season (Colgate 2023-23).  The top-seeded Mids will open the Patriot League Tournament with a Thursday night quarterfinal round game in Annapolis against the winner of Tuesday's first-round game featuring No. 9 Army at No. 8 Bucknell.

Also, Navy defeated Colgate in Annapolis for the first time since 2019 and swept the season series from the Raiders for the first time since 2010.

"Just special," said Navy head coach Jon Perry, of the team's 17-1 record in league play.  "These guys have worked really hard from day one.  They set a lot of goals and a lot of them were lofty and they accomplished every goal.  It just goes to show you when a group of people come together and have a mission and that is what they are working toward every day, they can accomplish something really special.  But it doesn't happen if you don't have a group of seniors who lead by example."

Buoyed by seven points from Sam Krist, who was making the first start of his career, Navy took early leads of 9-3, 15-6 and 20-8.  It soon was a 26-19 advantage for the Mids when a 10-0 run gave them a 36-19 lead with seven minutes left in the half.

"There are lots of emotions with senior day," said Perry.  "I was really excited for Cam Cormany and Sam Krist, who haven't played much, to get starts, and Mike Woods as team captain gives up his starting position so Donovan Draper can get the start.  Cam and Sam came out and they were who they were, they weren't trying to be anyone else and the ball found Sam and he had great shots and gave us some energy.  The bench was into it."

Colgate kept chipping away thanks to the three-point shot.  The Raiders entered the day averaging 7.3 triples a game, but ended the first half 8-15 from long range –– five of those came from Kyle Carlesimo, who started in placed of the injured (concussion) Jalen Cox, the league's third-leading scorer –– as they drew to within 44-38 and then 47-40 at halftime.

Navy also utilized the three-point shot well in the first half as the seven treys made on 12 attempts by the Mids bettered their season average of 6.5 made a game.

"I thought we executed well offensively in the first half," said Perry, "better than we did defensively.  We were able to absorb that run and have a seven-point lead."

Carlesimo continued his hot shooting by scoring five of Colgate's first seven points of the second half to pull the Raiders to within two points at 49-47.  The Mids went back inside to Aidan Kehoe who scored in the lane to double the lead to 51-47.  The teams traded missed shots, then Carlesimo had a rare miss during his career-high 20-point game that was grabbed by Kehoe.  The Navy center was recipient on the offensive end of a pass from Austin Benigni and he converted the opportunity to make it a 53-47 lead.  A turnover by the Raiders ended their next possession, with Draper quickly connecting on a jumper to stretch the lead to 55-47.

Back came the Raiders as less than one minute later it again was a one-possession game at 55-52 with 14 minutes left on the clock.  Kehoe then snared on offensive board and scored on the putback.  Cam Cole promptly stole the ball and he was fouled on his drive to the basket.  His two foul shots made the score 59-52.  The teams traded a few baskets, then a field goal by Kehoe started a 7-0 run that pushed the cushion to 72-59 with 7:48 still to play.  Colgate made two free throws (72-61), then an 8-0 run by Navy –– the last seven of which were from Cole –– built it an 80-61 lead with just 4:33 remaining.  

"That's experience," said Perry, of the second half run.  "Cam Cole had a big second half.  We have been trying to get better at transition and I think it is starting to show a bit.  And then down the stretch we started to execute our offense and got the ball inside to Aidan in our half court sets."

Navy somewhat negated the outside shooting by Colgate as the Raiders were 11-27 (40.7%) from beyond the arc and the Mids were 10-25 (40.0%).  Navy, however, was 19-33 (57.5%) in its two-point attempts while Colgate was 13-31 (41.9%).  That gave the Mids a 50 percent shooting effort and the Raiders an overall mark of 41.4 percent.

Navy also was 17-26 from the foul line while Colgate was 10-12.  Navy held a 23-16 advantage on the glass in the second half to finish with a slight 38-33 lead in rebounds for the game.  The Mids turned the ball over 10 times and forced 13, while enjoying a 21-15 advantage in points scored after turnovers.  

Individually among the seniors besides Krist, Kehoe was 7-9 from the field in scoring 17 points while grabbing 12 boards and dishing out five assists to record his eighth double-double in a row, Benigni totaled 15 points and a career-best nine assists, Draper finished with a double-double of his own with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and an equal number of steals and Woods tallied nine points and five rebounds.

Benigni, who tied David Robinson by playing in his 127th career game today, surpassed The Admiral for the most free throws made in a career by a Mid as his four today gave him 606 to better the 605 amassed by Robinson.

Also, Cole scored a career-high 16 points on 3-5 shooting from three-point land and a 5-8 effort from the floor in all.

Patriot League Standings
1. 17-1 Navy
T2. 11-7 Lehigh
T2. 11-7 Colgate
4. 10-8 Boston U.
5. 9-9 American
T6. 8-10 Loyola
T6. 8-10 Lafayette
8. 6-12 Bucknell
T9. 5-13 Army
T9. 5-13 Holy Cross

Patriot League Tournament Schedule
2026 PenFed Credit Union Patriot League Men's Basketball Championship
First-Round / Tuesday, March 3 
Game 1 - No. 9 Army West Point at No. 8 Bucknell
Game 2 - No. 10 Holy Cross at No. 7 Lafayette
Quarterfinals / Thursday, March 5
Game 3 - Winner of Game 1 at No. 1 Navy
Game 4 - No. 5 American at No. 4 Boston University
Game 5 - No. 6 Loyola Maryland at No. 3 Colgate
Game 6 - Winner of Game 2 at No. 2 Lehigh
Semifinals / Sunday, March 8
Game 7 - Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4
Game 8 - Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6
Championship Game / Wednesday, March 11
Game 9 - Lowest-remaining seed at Highest-remaining seed