BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Austin Benigni, Aidan Kehoe and Jon Perry from the Navy men's basketball team garnered major awards from the Patriot League for the sport following a season that saw the Mids post a 17-1 record in league play and win the program's first outright league regular season title since 1997.  Benigni was named the player of the year, Kehoe was tabbed as the defensive player of the year and the staff helmed by Perry was named the coaching staff of the year in the awards that were announced today by the league office.

Additionally, Benigni and Kehoe received first-team all-league honors while both Kehoe and Donovan Draper were named to the league's all-defensive team.  

Benigni joins Greg Sprink (2008) as the only Mids to be named the player of the year by the league, Kehoe and Will Kelly (2016) are the lone Navy players to be named the defensive player of the year since it was first awarded in 2005 and Perry is the fourth Navy head coach to earn the coach-of-the-year laurel.

The top-seeded Mids begin their quest for their first Patriot League Tournament title since 1998 Thursday when they play host to a quarterfinal round game against the winner of Tuesday's first-round game featuring No. 9 Army at No. 8 Bucknell.

Austin Benigni
Benigni has received all-league honors in his sophomore (second team), junior (first) and senior seasons (first) to join Chris Harris (2008-10) and Chris Williams (1999-01) as the only Mids to be named to an all-league team three times in a career.

He ranks second in the league this season in scoring with an average of 18.1 points per game and also stands fourth in assists at 4.4 helpers a game.  Benigni scored in double figures in 17 of 18 league games and in 29 of 31 games on the season, and tallied 20 or more points in nine league games and 14 games on the year.  He scored 562 points this season, a tally that ranks 46th in the NCAA this year and 10th in school history.

Benigni is the only Mid to rank among the top-five players for both career points (third, 1,873) and assists (fifth, 470), is one of only two Patriot League players to rank among the top 20 in both points (11th) and assists (T-17th) and is one of only two league players to total at least 1,800 points and 400 assists for a career.

Free throws have played a major role in Benigni's success.  He has ranked among the NCAA leaders in the last three seasons in free throws made, attempted and percentage.  He ranks first at Navy with 606 career free throws made, third with 703 free throws attempted and first with a free throw percentage of 86.4 percent.

Aidan Kehoe
Kehoe went from totaling 10 points and 11 rebounds as a freshman to 476 points and 340 rebounds as a senior.  The 6-11 center ranks first in the NCAA in field goal percentage (73.6%, which currently is a Patriot League record), second in rebounds (340), second in double-doubles (18), sixth in rebounds per game (11.0 rpg), eighth in defensive boards (7.26 drpg) and 15th in offensive rebounding (3.71 orpg).  His 225 defensive rebounds this season ranks second to David Robinson's school record of 269, his 115 offensive caroms ties his own school record for the most in a single year and his 340 overall rebounds ranks fifth at Navy.

Kehoe averaged 17.2 points and 12.1 rebounds per game during the league campaign.  He also shot 76.5 percent from the floor, tallied a double-double in 12 of the 18 games and ranked second on the team to Benigni with 58 assists against league foes.  Kehoe registered eight 20-point double-doubles this year, which included a 21-point, 21-rebound effort in a double overtime win at Lehigh.

One of only eight Navy players with both 800 points (856) and 700 rebounds (729) in a career, Kehoe ranks seventh in career boards and is atop the school's career field goal percentage list with an overall mark of 66.9 percent.

Donovan Draper
Draper, who also was named to the all-defensive team in 2024, leads the Patriot League and ranks 25th nationally with 61 steals and is first in the league and 24th in the country with an average of 2.1 steals per game.  He swiped a league-best 35 steals during league play, ranked 10th with an average of 4.6 defensive rebounds a game and tied for 12th place with an average of 4.0 defensive rebounds a game.  This is despite his missing a pair of league games due to a concussion.

Draper amassed 172 steals in his three seasons of Navy basketball (he was a member of the football team as a freshman).  That total ranks sixth in school history and his average of 1.83 steals per game stands third.  He registered a school-record 101 career steals during Patriot League games and ranks second with an average of 1.98 steals per game against league foes.

He joins Kehoe as being one of the eight Mids with over 800 points (844) and 700 rebounds (760) in a career.  His 520 defensive caroms ranks second at Navy, his average of 5.53 defensive rebounds a game is first and he stands sixth with 760 overall boards. 

Jon Perry
Perry becomes the fourth Navy head coach to be named the league's coach of the year (Don DeVoe,1994, '97 [co], 2000), Billy Lange (2008) and Ed DeChellis (2021, '22).  Hired as Navy's head coach to replace the retiring DeChellis in the spring of 2025, Perry and his staff of Brett Barron, Chase Coleman, Zack Curran, Jordan Lyons and Scott Wagers have guided the Mids to an overall record of 25-6 and a Patriot League record of 17-1.  It was just the second 17-1 record posted by a league team since an 18-game slate was introduced with the 2013-14 season, and the 25 overall wins are the most in school history for a Navy team that did not have David Robinson on the roster.

Navy's 25 wins ties Perry for third place for the most wins by a first-year head coach during the 2025-26 season.

Navy earned the program's first outright regular season title since the 1997 season.  The Mids lead the league and rank fifth nationally with a defensive scoring average of 63.3 points per game, are first among league teams and 21st in the country with a defensive field goal percentage of 40 percent and rank first in the league and eighth in the NCAA with a defensive three-point field goal percentage of 29.1 percent. 

2025-26 PenFed Credit Union Patriot League Men's Basketball Major Awards and All-League Teams
Player of the Year – Austin Benigni, Navy, Sr., G
Defensive Player of the Year – Aidan Kehoe, Navy, Sr., C
Rookie of the Year – Andrew Alekseyenko, Colgate, Fy., F
Coaching Staff of the Year – Navy (Head Coach: Jon Perry)

First-Team All-Patriot League
Michael McNair, Boston University, Jr., G; Jalen Cox, Colgate, Jr., G; Nasir Whitlock, Lehigh, Jr., G; Austin Benigni, Navy, Sr., G; Aidan Kehoe, Navy, Sr., C

Second-Team All-Patriot League
Ben Defty, Boston University, So., F; Amon Dörries, Bucknell, Fr., F/C; Andrew Alekseyenko, Colgate, Fy., F; Hank Alvey, Lehigh, So., C; Braeden Speed, Loyola Maryland, So., G

Third-Team All-Patriot League 
Greg Jones, American, Jr., F; Madden Collins, American, Fr., G; Ryan Curry, Army West Point, Jr., G; Chance Gladden, Boston University, Fr., G; Caleb Williams, Lafayette, So., G; Emmett Adair, Loyola Maryland, Fr., F

Patriot League All-Defensive Team
Greg Jones, American, Jr., G; Ben Defty, Boston University, So., F; Jalen Cox, Colgate, Jr., G; Donovan Draper, Navy, Sr., F; Aidan Kehoe, Navy, Sr., C

Patriot League All-Rookie Team
Madden Collins, American, Fr., G; Chance Gladden, Boston University, Fr., G; Amon Dörries, Bucknell, Fr., F/C; Andrew Alekseyenko, Colgate, Fy., F; Emmett Adair, Loyola Maryland, Fr., F