"He poses a ton of problems," Navy coach Billy Lange said of the 6-foot-9 center. "He's physical; he's athletic. Where he did a good job tonight was where I felt he was very unselfish.
"He would get it, he would kick it out. As soon as he sensed the double team coming, he started to post a little deeper."
Elegar often finds himself double-teamed.
"I could do a lot better," the senior said. "But we've been working on it on practice here and there. Like [coach Bruiser Flint] says, I should take guys deeper and score over top of them and not look for the double team."
Freshman guard Gerald Colds had 10 points after scoring 18 in his debut on Friday. Tramayne Hawthorne added a career-high 19 points.
Evan Neisler, a 6-7 sophomore transfer from Boston College, provided support in the post for Elegar, collecting eight points and eight rebounds.
Chris Harris tallied 16 points for the Midshipmen (1-1), who had four players in double figures.
The Dragons went on a 24-7 run in the first half to gain control. They led by 49-29 at the break before Navy clawed back.
Taking advantage of three-point shooting - Navy made 9 of 30 threes - the visitors sliced a 22-point deficit to eight, 77-69, with 3 minutes, 36 seconds left.
"Close was Friday," Flint said with a smile about his team's adventures in the first two games. "It's going to be like that, but hopefully not as long as I expected. You've got guards out there who have never been out there before, and I think we started looking at the clock a little bit.
"We were up 20 most of the game, and guys started relaxing, getting sloppy with the ball. We didn't make foul shots. I tell the guys, 'You have to understand, we have to play for 40 minutes.' "
The Dragons' defense tightened and held off Navy as Scott Rodgers hit 2 of 4 foul shots and Elegar sank 1 of 2.
"All the good foul shooters are gone; all the bad ones are back," Flint said in jest afterward about Drexel's 23-for-37 effort from the line.
Drexel outrebounded Navy by 43-39.
Contact staff writer Mel Greenberg at 215-854-5725 or mgreenberg@phillynews.com.
