NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport hosts the Crowne Plaza Captains Shootout beginning Friday at the Freeman Center. The two-day tournament begins at 4:00 p.m. as Huntingdon takes on Alvernia...followed by the Captains against Mount St. Mary at approximately 6:00 p.m. The third place and championship games will be played on Saturday.

Christopher Newport is 8-1 to start the season, and the Captains are ranked 18th in the country. John Krikorian's squad has won its last two games by decisive margins over Old Dominion Athletic Conference rivals Randolph-Macon (72-61) and Virginia Wesleyan (97-67). The Captains beat the Marlins by 30 at the Freeman Center on December 16th in CNU's last game before the holiday break. Senior Marcus Carter led the Christopher Newport attack with a career-high 28 points. He is 11th on the school's all-time scoring list, just seven points behind Mike Cherry for tenth place. Carter leads the Captains for the season, averaging 18.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

The Knights of Mount St. Mary College are 7-1 heading into Friday's game against the Captains, which will be the first-ever meeting of the schools. Mount St. Mary is located in Newburgh, N.Y., and the Knights are members of the Skyline Conference. Junior guard Kendall Francis leads the squad, averaging 24.4 points per game. Francis is tenth in the country in scoring, and is coming off a 34-point effort in a double overtime win for the Knights over Utica College on December 16th.

Huntingdon, a member of the USA South Athletic Conference, is off to a 3-5 start to the season. Alvernia, out of the MAC Commonwealth Conference, is 3-7 entering play in the Captains Shootout.

Saturday's third-place game will tip off at 2:00 p.m. followed by the Championship game at 4:00 p.m. Live video coverage for all games will be available at CNUsports.com/watch. CNU games are also broadcast live on the Christopher Newport/Pepsi Radio Network (Xtra 99.1 FM) with the pre-game show beginning at 5:40 p.m. Friday. Live stats of all games will also be available at CNUsports.com.

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