NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Christopher Newport's men's basketball squad dropped an 88-79 decision to cross-water rival VA Wesleyan in the Captains season opener Tuesday night at the Freeman Center.
The two teams traded buckets for much of the opening half. The Marlins quickly took a 9-5 lead but saw that disappear as CNU countered with five straight points to take a one-point lead.
Christopher Newport went on a 14-7 to take a 30-23 lead on Craig McCargo's three-pointer with 8:34 to play in the first. VA Wesleyan responded with seven straight points to tie the score at 30-30 with 7:02 to play on TonTon Balenga's three-pointer.
The Marlins would take control from there as they scored 16 of the final 25 points to lead 46-39 at the break.
In the second half, VWC extended its lead to 11 early, 54-43, with 17:43 left in the game on another Balenga three-ball. Christopher Newport then went on a spurt of its own, outscoring the Marlins 15-4 over the next four minutes to tie the score at 58-all.
VA Wesleyan re-took the lead for good with 10:46 left on Julius Carlton's jumper. The Marlins would eventually lead by 10 with 2:25 to go and as many as 12 with 27 ticks left on the clock until Davon Barton's three-pointer with five seconds left in the game provided the final margin.
The Marlins finished 30-of-65 (46%) from the field. VWC hit half of its 26 three-point attempts and was 15-of-17 (88%) from the free throw line.
Balenga finished with 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 6-of-9 from behind the arc. He also had six rebounds and four steals. Tyler Fantin finished with 12 points and six boards and Terrell Dixon added 11 and seven assists.
The Captains were 31-of-60 (52%) from the floor, 8-of-19 (42%) from beyond the arc and 9-of-13 (69%) from the line.
Barton led CNU with 18 points and seven assists. McCargo finished with 16 points off the bench and hit 3-of-5 from downtown. Thomas Whinnett added 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Marko Hamlin contributed 10 points.
VA Wesleyan improves to 3-0 on the year while CNU falls to 0-1.
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