CLINTON, S.C. — Aidan Kehoe scored 19 factors and the Navy males’s basketball group led by double figures for the final 26 minutes of a 76-55 victory over Presbyterian, Monday night time on the Templeton Center in Clinton, S.C., in the season opener for each groups and the primary recreation for Jon Perry as the pinnacle coach of the Mids.
“I thought we did a lot of great things,” stated Perry. “Really excited to see those guys play someone else. We have been at this thing since August 20. We were ready to play someone else. I think (Presbyterian head coach) Quinton Ferrell does a great job with his team. Excited about the first win.
Presbyterian held a 12-11 lead with 12:30 left before intermission, but from there would make just one field goal over the rest of the half. Navy took 16-12 and 23-14 leads before going into the break with a 37-17 advantage.
“I do not know if it was something particular that we did,” said Perry of the defense in the latter part of the first half. “As the half went on we settled in defensively. We began to make some changes in the timeouts. That’s a credit score to the workers and the blokes executing the sport plan.”
The Mids had good offensive balance in the opening 20 minutes as seven of the nine players who took to the floor made at least one field goal. Kehoe was 5-6 from the floor to help Navy to a 48.4 percent (15-31) effort from the field. Conversely, the Blue Hose were 7-26 (26.9%) from the field, which included a 0-12 showing from three-point range.
Presbyterian was able to shave two points off of the 20-point halftime deficit early in the second half, but Navy put the game away with a 12-1 run that gave it a 60-30 lead with 11 minutes to go. The margin remained at least 20 points for the remainder of the contest.
Navy improved upon its first half field goal percentage as it shot 50 percent (12-24) from the floor after halftime to end the game with an overall mark of 49.1 percent. Presbyterian started to find its shot in the second half as it connected on 52.2 percent (12-23) of its attempts, which included a 3-9 showing from three-point land. The Blue Hose made 38.8 percent of their field goal attempts for the game.
Navy won the rebounding battle, 34-31, and scored 19 points after the 15 turnovers it forced while Presbyterian tallied eight points after the eight turnovers committed by the Mids.
Kehoe finished the game having made nine of his 11 field goal attempts to score 19 points. That left him one point shy of tying his career high.
“Everything,” said Perry’s response when asked about what Kehoe did well. “He scored inside, pitching it out and reposting when he wanted to. Jonah Pierce is a handful and for Aidan to play 34 minutes and guard on that finish and do an excellent job on Pierce and maintain him to solely 5 factors after which be an anchor for us on the offensive finish was nice.”
Jordan Pennick made a trio of triples on his means to scoring 13 factors whereas Austin Benigni added 11 factors, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and two steals. Rounding out the beginning 5 have been Donovan Draper with eight factors, 4 steals, three rebounds and three assists and Jinwoo Kim with seven points, six rebounds and three assists.
Perry served the last 12 years as an assistant at Navy to former head coach Ed DeChellis, who was in attendance at tonight’s game.
“It is simply an honor to serve the workers and serve the gamers every day,” said Perry. “They make it enjoyable and rewarding. I feel I’ve one of the best job in the world and I feel the Naval Academy is one of the best place to be.”
Navy will open the house portion of its season Friday when it performs host to Yale at 8:30 p.m. in the second recreation of the twelfth annual Veterans Classic. Game one begins at 6 p.m. and options Tulsa in opposition to Rhode Island. Both video games might be televised by the CBS Sports Network.