ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Mike Woods and Cam Cole accounted for 12 points during a 15-0 run that boosted the Navy men's basketball team to a lead it would not relinquish in an eventual 74-69 victory over Bucknell, Thursday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament. The victory by the top-seeded Mids (26-6) over the eighth-seeded Bison (10-23) advances Navy to a Sunday home semifinal game against fourth-seeded Boston University at 2 p.m.

Additionally, the 26th victory by the Mids ties them for the second most in a single season by a Navy team.

"Welcome to March Madness," said Navy head coach Jon Perry. "Happy for our team to get the win.  I thought the crowd was instrumental in helping us get a couple of key defensive stops.  Mike Woods and Cam Cole in the second half just made big basket after big basket."  

The lead went back-and-forth seven times in the first nine minutes of the game, then Bucknell went on a 12-0 run to take a 31-23 lead with 7:25 left in the half.  Navy was able to draw to within three points at 35-32 and 37-34 before going into the half down 39-36.

Bucknell held a 20-14 advantage on the glass in the frame, including a 9-4 lead in offensive boards. That allowed the Bison to have a 12-3 lead in second-chance points.

It was the first time Navy trailed at the half since being down 27-21 to Boston on Jan. 28.

Bucknell took 47-39, 49-41 and 54-46 leads in the second half.  Woods hit a jumper off of an assist from Cole to make the score 54-48 with 12:33 still to play.  Woods scored again after an exchange of turnovers, then banged in another jumper to draw Navy to within 54-52 with 10:18 remaining.  The Bison missed a shot, and then Cole drilled a three-point basket to give the Mids a 55-54 lead with 9:27 remaining for their first lead since 23-21.

Neither team scored again until Cole hit another triple to stretch the lead to 58-54 with 7:12 remaining.  After a Bucknell turnover from a steal by Cole, Jordan Pennick connected on a trey to make the score 61-54 with 5:39 remaining.

"Finally, we started guarding a little bit," said Perry.  "There was about a six-minute stretch in the second half when we had three-straight 'KOs'; a 'KO' is three defensive stops in a row.  Finally we started guarding and being who we are defensively.

"We had some great accountability in the second half.  We had good senior leadership and some juniors spoke up.  As a group, we all have to collaborate; we have to aggressively work together.  That's a high stress game.  You are supposed to win that game, and that's hard at times."

Bucknell ended the 15-0 Navy run and its scoring drought of 7:34 with a three-point basket of its own at the 5:15 mark that made it a 61-57 game, but Cole answered with his fourth triple of the game on the ensuing Navy possession to return the margin to seven points with five minutes showing on the clock.

The teams traded scores as the difference hovered between four and six points, then Bucknell made it a one-possession game at 70-67with 34.5 seconds remaining.

Bucknell had played an effective defense in the second half and had only committed four team fouls to that point.  Navy was able to run the clock down to 26.1 seconds until the Bison committed their sixth foul of the half.  The Bison overplayed their defense on the inbounds play and Woods found a sprinting Jinwoo Kim who caught the pass and went 25 feet to the rim for a basket that made the score 72-67 with 19.8 seconds left.  

Aidan Kehoe registered a block on Bucknell's shot at the rim, with Austin Benigni grabbing the defensive carom and being fouled with 14.3 seconds remaining.  He marched to the other end of the floor and made both free throws to expand the cushion out to 74-67.

The Mids ended the game on a 28-15 run.

After Bucknell controlled the glass in the first half, Navy held a slight advantage of 14-13 in the second half, but still trailed at the end of the game by a 33-28 difference.  Each team had two second-chance points after halftime.

The Mids improved their field goal percentage from 45.8 percent in the first half to 56.5 percent in the second, while limiting the Bison to a 40.7 percent effort in the second half after they shot 44.1 percent in the first.

"What we didn't do," said Perry, "was defensively rebound the ball. They had 12 second-chance points in the first half to our two.  That was the difference.  We lost shooters."

Woods was 5-5 from the floor in scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second half.  Cole was 3-5 from three-point land after halftime as he scored 11 of his career-high tying 16 points in the final 20 minutes.  He also recorded three blocks and two steals in the game.  Navy was +13 in the second half when Cole was on the floor.

Woods and Cole were two of the five Mids to score in double figures.  Benigni and Kim each scored 14 points and Pennick added 12 points.  Additionally, Pennick had four assists in the game with four Mids dishing out three assists each.

"That's the sign of a good team," said Perry. "Everyone steps up and leads at different times in the 40 minutes."

Navy defeated Boston twice this year, 82-77 in Annapolis in the season opener and 58-50 on Jan. 28 in Boston. The Terriers jumped out to a 14-0 lead at the start of the latter game against the Mids.  Boston has posted an 8-1 record over its last nine games.