Benigni leads Navy against Holy Cross after 27-point outing

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Navy Midshipmen (9-5, 1-0 Patriot League) at Holy Cross Crusaders (6-8, 1-0 Patriot League)

Worcester, Massachusetts; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Navy visits Holy Cross after Austin Benigni scored 27 points in Navy's 82-77 win over the Boston University Terriers.

The Crusaders have gone 4-2 at home. Holy Cross is second in the Patriot League in team defense, allowing 72.2 points while holding opponents to 47.8% shooting.

The Midshipmen are 1-0 in Patriot League play. Navy ranks sixth in the Patriot League shooting 33.8% from 3-point range.

Holy Cross' average of 6.8 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.2 fewer made shots on average than the 7.0 per game Navy allows. Navy averages 73.7 points per game, 1.5 more than the 72.2 Holy Cross allows to opponents.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Joe Nugent is shooting 35.9% from beyond the arc with 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Crusaders, while averaging 10.8 points. Tyler Boston is averaging 12.5 points over the last 10 games.

Benigni is scoring 17.1 points per game and averaging 3.4 rebounds for the Midshipmen. Jinwoo Kim is averaging 1.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Crusaders: 5-5, averaging 65.8 points, 29.3 rebounds, 11.6 assists, 6.5 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.6 points per game.

Midshipmen: 7-3, averaging 72.0 points, 36.0 rebounds, 13.8 assists, 6.8 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 42.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.