Sophomore guard Jordan Pennick scored a career-high 20 points and Navy men’s basketball led for more than 36 of 40 minutes in beating archrival Army, 66-53, at Christl Arena on the West Point campus.
Pennick, an Archbishop Spalding product, drained five 3-pointers — several from NBA range. He also contributed five rebounds and two assists.
“I’ve been in 28 of these games and somebody always pops their head up. Jordan was the one who stepped up and did something special this time,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “We needed someone to make some shots and he was that guy. He made some really big threes in the second half to help us get separation we needed.”
Junior center Aidan Kehoe posted a double-double with 13 points and 20 rebounds for Navy, which improved to 7-14 overall and 4-4 in the Patriot League. The 6-foot-10 Kehoe snagged eight offensive caroms on the way to setting an Army-Navy game record for total rebounds.
“Kehoe rebounded the heck out of the ball, that’s for sure. He was very good today defensively as well,” DeChellis said.
Junior point guard Austin Benigni totaled 18 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Midshipmen, who were 12-for-15 from the free-throw line and outrebounded the Black Knights, 57-35.
“I’m proud of our players. It was a typical Army-Navy game — very competitive and extremely physical,” DeChellis said. “Neither team shot the ball well … the numbers say that. I thought we defended really well and we beat them up on the glass. Defensive and rebounding, it’s amazing how that will travel.”
Benigni and Pennick combined to do a superb job of defending Army combination guard Jalen Rucker, who was limited to five points on 1-for-12 field goal shooting. The Gilman graduate came into the game leading the Patriot League in scoring with an average of 19 points.
Sophomore forward Josh Scovens totaled points and six rebounds to lead Army (11-9, 5-3), which remained in sole possession of third place in the conference. Four Army starters — Rucker, Scovens, wing guards Ryan Curry and Blake Barker — were a combined 10-for-43 from the field. The Black Knights shot a dismal 31% (19-61) as a team.
“We didn’t want Rucker or Curry to beat us from three. We did a good job of chasing them around and not giving them open shots,” DeChellis said. “It thought our guys did a good job of following the game-plan. They were really locked in defensively and did what we discussed for two days.”
A Scovens free throw gave Army a 34-33 lead at the midway mark of the second half, but a 3-pointer by Pennick sparked a 12-2 run that gave Navy a 45-36 lead with about 7 1/2 minutes left. The Black Knights got within four (45-41), but the Midshipmen used an 18-5 run to pull away.
“At winning time today, we were really good. We made free throws, took care of the ball, made some offensive plays and continued to defend,” DeChellis said.
DeChellis said Navy dedicated the big victory to the memory of Pete Medhurst and Ernie Nestor. Medhurst, the voice of Navy athletics who was extremely close to DeChellis, died Monday after battling brain cancer. Nestor, a Navy assistant under DeChellis from 2012 to 2017 who spent four decades in college basketball, died Sunday morning of leukemia.
“It was a very emotional week losing Pete and now Ernie,” DeChellis said.
Navy, which has won five of the last six meetings in the series, will host Army in the Star game on Feb. 15 at Alumni Hall. The Midshipmen moved into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Patriot League.
“There’s a lot of games still to be played. We want to continue to get better,” DeChellis said. “I think our guys are starting to understand how important defense is. We’ve been preaching it and now in the last couple games it’s clicked.”
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