Austin Benigni hits milestone as Navy men’s basketball routs Coppin State, 88-55

Austin Benigni became only the ninth player in Navy men’s basketball history to score 1,500 career points, achieving the mark during Friday’s game against Coppin State. Fittingly, the senior point guard reached the milestone with a pair of free throws.

Benigni has made a living at the charity stripe throughout his time in Annapolis. The Houston native has scored 521 of his career points from the free throw line, shooting a sizzling 86% along the way.

Benigni did it again on Friday — draining 12 of 14 foul shots on the way to scoring 20 points to help Navy rout Coppin State, 88-55, in front of an announced crowd of 724 at Alumni Hall.

Benigni moved into ninth place on Navy’s all-time scoring list, surpassing Chris Williams (1,496 points, 1998-2001). He now has 1,516 points and needs 14 more to move past Kaleo Kina (2006-09) into eighth.

“It’s definitely a really cool experience. I’ve put a lot of work in and a lot of people have put a lot of work into me,” said Benigni, who agreed it made sense to score his 1,500th point from the foul line. “Yea, it’s definitely my game. I was laughing when they announced it because I got it off of a free throw.”

Benigni is one of only nine active Division I players with more than 1,500 points and 350 assists. The Patriot League’s preseason Player of the Year has now scored 20 or more points in 32 career games.

“I think it’s a credit to his hard work and dedication — the love of the game he has,” Navy coach Jon Perry said of Benigni. “We are proud of him as a program, but he’ll tell you he’s got his eyes set on things that are more important and that’s pursuing a Patriot League regular season championship.”

Senior center Aidan Kehoe scored 22 points on 10-for-13 field goal shooting for Navy (7-5), which has won three straight. Kehoe also grabbed 12 rebounds for his 13th double-double over the past two seasons and added three blocked shots for good measure.

“I think every game that Aidan’s scored in double digits we’ve had success. He’s a big part of what we’re going to do,” said Perry, noting Kehoe has “worked incredibly hard” to improve his post moves.

Senior forward Donavan Draper totaled eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Mids, who avenged last season’s disappointing loss to the Eagles in Baltimore. Junior guard Cam Cole returned after suffering a sprained ankle and added 11 points on the strength of three 3-pointers.

“Cam brings us some intangibles that aren’t seen in the stat sheet. He’s one of the best teammates we have and a really tough guy,” Perry said.

Navy faces Division III Rosemont on Sunday to complete the nonconference schedule, then opens Patriot League play Dec. 31 at home against Boston University.

“That’s what we’ve been building for since the offseason,” Benigni said of the conference campaign. “The season is broken up into three parts — you’ve got nonconference, Patriot League, then tournament play. We’re about to hit that second phase of the season and we’ve strung some wins together. We’ll take that momentum and feel good about ourselves going into Patriot League play.”

Junior guard Hussain Williams scored 13 points to lead Coppin State (2-13), which was out-rebounded 42-26 and gave up 46 points in the paint. The Eagles made just 4 of 20 3-point attempts and got just seven points from their starters — all by Tyler Koenig.

Kehoe scored 13 points on 6-for-8 field goal shooting as Navy took a 36-24 halftime lead. Benigni totaled seven points and three assists for the Midshipmen, who used an 11-2 run break open what was just a two-point lead.

Williams scored 10 points for Coppin State, which shot just 25% (7-for-28) from the field and committed eight turnovers. The Eagles were equally woeful from beyond the arc, making just 2 of 13 attempts over the first 20 minutes.

Offensively, Navy looked like a team that had not played a game in two weeks early on. However, the Midshipmen defended well, holding the Eagles scoreless for almost seven minutes to start the game.

“The staff is doing a great job of getting the focus on the defensive end. We’re trying to use our defense to help us on offense,” Perry said. “The numbers say we’re good in transition offense, so we want to pressure the ball a bit.”

Draper made a short jumper in the lane and Kehoe scored on a strong low post move as Navy increased its lead to 16 points early in the second half. Coppin State cut the deficit down to single digits a couple times in the second half, but never made a sustained run.

Junior guard Jordan Pennick drilled a 3-pointer to start a 20-4 run that gave Navy a 24-point advantage with 5:28 left and the home team continued to pour it on down the stretch. Kehoe even made a basket after heaving the ball toward the rim while falling to the court.

“I was fighting for the rebound and felt myself lose balance, so I just threw it up and it went in,” he said. “That’s probably the craziest shot I’ve hit this year. This takes the cake as my No. 1 highlight so far.”

Navy now has three wins of 33 points or more this season, having also hammered Washington College (97-64) and Gardner-Webb (84-51).

Navy has not accomplished that feat since the 1999-2000 season when it beat four opponents (Coast Guard, Gettysburg, Colgate and Lehigh) by 33 points or more.

Have a news tip? Contact Bill Wagner at [email protected], 443-534-0102 and x.com/@BWagner_CapGaz.

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