Any veteran coach will tell you the last five minutes of the first half and first five minutes of the second half often decide a basketball game.
Navy men’s basketball certainly proved that old adage true in Wednesday night’s home game against Bucknell. The Midshipmen blitzed the Bison over a period of 10 minutes on either side of halftime and that stretch definitely determined the outcome.
Senior point guard Austin Benigni turned in another virtuoso performance with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists as Navy blew out Bucknell, 76-55, before an announced crowd of 758 at Alumni Hall.
Junior guard Jordan Pennick also scored 23 points on the strength of 7-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc for Navy, which won its seventh straight contest. Senior center Aidan Kehoe notched a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Midshipmen, who have started Patriot League play 3-0 for the first time since 2021-22.
Pennick drilled back-to-back 3-pointers and converted a layup in transition as Navy opened the second half with a 20-3 run to take a commanding 53-35 lead with just under six minutes elapsed. Kehoe made three straight inside baskets as the Mids shot 8-for-10 from the field during the decisive stretch.
Meanwhile, Bucknell came out of the locker room cold and missed 8 of 9 field goals while committing two turnovers. Mike Woods capped the Navy onslaught with a thunderous breakaway dunk that got the excited home fans out of their seats.
First-year Navy coach Jon Perry said the staff is now more focused on the four minutes on either side of intermission.
“We actually call it the middle eight and talk about the last four and the first four. We got settled in defensively toward the end of the first half and were able to run in transition a little bit,” Perry said. “To start the second half, we made a couple defensive adjustments. We walked through a couple things on the board to show the guys and I think that really fueled that [20-3] start. Jordan made a couple shots early to get us going, Austin was Austin and Aidan established deeper post position and was able to score around the basket.”
Benigni, Pennick and Kehoe accounted for 66 of 76 points for Navy, which shot a sizzling 53.6% from the field in the second half.
Senior forward Ruot Bijiek scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Bucknell (4-12, 1-2), which shot just 34% (18-for-53) for the game. Freshman guard Pat Curtin (Glenelg Country) added 11 for the Bison.
Navy was without starting forward Donovan Draper, who suffered a concussion in Saturday’s loss at Holy Cross. Draper, who leads the Mids in steals and ranks second in rebounds, had made 38 straight starts.
Pennick started in place of Draper and stepped up big-time. The Spalding product had been struggling offensively, averaging 5.9 points per game.
“The whole season I feel like I’ve been in a slump, haven’t been myself. I’ve got to get out of that mindset,” Pennick said. “All the coaches and players are telling me they believe in me, they trust me, they have confidence in me. When I get out there… don’t even think, just shoot it. That’s what I was doing tonight and my shots were falling.”
Pennick was a season-long starter as a sophomore and opened this season in the lineup. However, two games in he was moved to the sixth-man role.
“I’m proud of Jordan for improving his defense over the last couple weeks. When you’re not making shots, there are a lot of other ways to affect the games,” Perry said. “He’s gotten much better at creating shots for others, setting good screens and giving good defensive effort.”
Kehoe has been a force down low all season and especially early in Patriot League play. The 6-foot-10, 246-pound New Jersey native is shooting almost 83% (24 of 29) in three conference contests.
“It’s all about balance and deep position with Aidan. We’re starting to get some actions that have allowed him to have deeper post-ups. When he’s that close he’s really unstoppable,” Perry said.
Early on, Navy is certainly living up to its billing as the preseason favorite in the Patriot League. The Midshipmen have two games on the road next week and Perry wants them to remain focused.
“It’s a long race. I just talked to these guys about keep climbing. Every game is one step higher and a little more challenging,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to improve. I’m proud that these guys have a strong will to prepare.”
Navy led for less that four minutes in the first half. Benigni’s fast-break layup gave the Mids a 33-32 halftime lead.
Pennick scored all nine of his points from beyond the arc as Navy closed the first half with a 10-4 run to erase a five-point deficit.
“My brother [Draper] went down, so I needed to step up for the team and provide a spark of energy. It’s next man up,” Pennick said.
It seemed the Bison had steadied themselves with a couple baskets and defensive stops, but Benigni made an acrobatic floater in the lane that resulted in a three-point play and Pennick drained another 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 run that gave Navy its largest lead, 65-42, with 8:56 remaining in the game.
All in all, it was a nightmare second half for Bucknell, which shot 27% (8-29) from the field and could not string together any defensive stops. Perry felt the Mids were responsible for disrupting the Bison’s offense.
“I challenged our team with their ball pressure. I thought they were able to run their stuff and get open threes because we didn’t have enough pressure on the ball,” Perry said. “In the second half we really heated up the ball. When the ballhandler is not comfortable and can’t read, it’s really hard to get the ball to the open shooters.”
Bucknell head coach John Griffin was coaching on the Naval Academy campus on the same night his wife, the former Bri Gauthier, participated in a ceremony at St. Mary’s High. Gauthier had her school record for career points broken by Bailey Harris recently.
Griffin thought the second half collapse was the result of a young Bucknell team being overwhelmed by a veteran Navy squad.
“Their physicality wore us down and we didn’t make any shots. We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, which put a ton of pressure on our defense,” he said. “They also pressed for 94 feet and wore down our point guard.”
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