NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - For the 88th time, Christopher Newport University and Virginia Wesleyan University will renew their men's basketball rivalry Friday night. The Captains, ranked 12th in the nation and riding a five-game winning streak, host the Marlins at the Freeman Center in a 7:00 p.m. start. CNU holds a 51-36 lead in the long-running regional rivalry that dates back to January of 1968.

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John Krikorian's squad is coming off a 79-74 victory Tuesday night at Hampden-Sydney College in Farmville, Va. The Captains improved to 8-2 by holding off the Tigers, who suffered their first loss of the season and fell to 6-1. Senior Jason Aigner led the way with a 25-point performance, and the Captain who wears number 20 climbed into 20th place on the CNU all-time scoring list. Aigner is now just a dozen points behind Carlos Heard for the 19th spot. Sophomore Jahn Hines recorded a double-double with 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds as the Captains prevailed in the first meeting of the schools since the 1997 NCAA Tournament.

The Captains have been led through their first ten games this season by Aigner, who is scoring 13.4 points per game. Hines tops the squad in rebounding with 7.5 per contest, and also is scoring 12.5 points per game. Sophomore Trey Barber has also stood out for CNU, averaging 12.6 points and 6.8 rebounds.

Virginia Wesleyan is 4-6 on the year, and the Marlins snapped a four-game losing streak with an 80-57 victory at home over Salisbury nine days ago. Dave Macedo's team is 0-2 so far in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, having dropped early-season contests to Randolph-Macon and Guilford. The Marlins are led this year so far by fifth-year senior forward Tim Fisher, who averages team-highs in points (17.4) and rebounds (9.4).

The Captains and Marlins have split their last two head-to-head meetings, with each team winning at home in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. Christopher Newport has won five of the last seven in the series.  Friday's game is the third in a stretch of five games in nine days for CNU, and the Captains travel to Washington for the DC Showdown Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Christopher Newport will play Washington and Lee on Monday at 2:00 p.m., and then host school Catholic Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in their final game before Christmas.

Tickets for Friday night's contest will be available at the Freeman Center Ticket Office. All Captains games are broadcast live on the Christopher Newport/Pepsi Radio Network (Xtra 99.1 FM) with the pre-game show beginning at 6:40 p.m.

Live video of the game will also be available by clicking HERE. You can also follow the action Friday with live stats by clicking HERE.