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ST. MARY'S CITY, MD- Christopher Newport was plagued by 20 turnovers Monday night, and 24th-ranked St. Mary's broke open a close game and pulled away to a 73-62 win. The Captains fell to 12-5 overall and 5-4 in the Capital Athletic Conference with the road loss.

"We had a really bad stretch in the second half where we turned the ball over numerous times," Head Coach John Krikorian said. "You just can't commit twenty turnovers and win against a good team like St. Mary's."

The Captains trailed by just one at the half, 26-25, following a back-and-forth first half that saw five lead changes. The Seahawks then opened the game, and eventually built a 16-point lead with four minutes to play.

CNU junior guard Mike Cherry sank three three-pointers late to pull the Captains back into the game, but St. Mary's converted free throws down the stretch to put the game on ice. Cherry finished with 13 points.

"We did some good things, but we're young and the mistakes were too costly," Krikorian continued. "We're getting better and a loss like this will hopefully help us down the stretch."

Senior Tra Benefield led the CNU attack with 17 points, and moved ahead of Davon Barton into seventh place on the school's all-time scoring list. Benefield now has scored 1,613 points in 95 career games as a Captain. Benefield also led the squad with seven rebounds.

Freshman Tim Daly scored 11 points and also pulled down seven rebounds.

Both teams shot well from the field, with CNU finishing 25 of 51 for 49 percent and St. Mary's making 23 of 46 attempts for 50 pecent. The Captains made 10 of 25 from beyond the arc (40 percent) while the Seahawks were seven of 13 for the night on threes (54 percent). CNU out-rebounded St. Mary's, 30-25.

St. Mary's improved to 13-4 overall and 7-2 in the CAC. Senior Donn Hill led the way with 23 points and eight rebounds for the Seahawks, who made 20 of 28 free throws for the night (71 percent).

The Captains return home on Wednesday with a home game vs. Southern Virginia. Game time at the Freeman Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.