NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University suffered through a turnover-filled first half Saturday night before recovering in the second half for a 79-68 victory over Dickinson College in the Holiday INNvitational at the Freeman Center. Junior Toa Hollenbeck led way with 25 points as the Captains registered their third straight victory. CNU improved to 4-2, while Dickinson dropped to 1-5 with the loss.

Christopher Newport turned the ball over on its first four possessions of the game, and finished the first half with 13 miscues, trailing the entire half. The Red Devils led by as many as 13, 36-23, in the final minute of the opening stanza. Junior Ryan Derderian's bucket with 28 seconds remaining in the first half cut the lead to 11, 36-25, at the intermission.

The Captains turned the game around in the second half, putting together a 19-4 run and pulling ahead for the first time on a three-point play from junior Jason Ofcarcik with 12:41 to play, 42-40. It would prove to be the only lead change of the game, as the Captains went on to out-score Dickinson in the second half, 54-32, to cruise to the 11-point triumph.

"The biggest frustration was our unforced careless turnovers, and I'm not sure what exactly to attribute that to," Head Coach John Krikorian said following the victory. "Beyond that, I thought we did a lot of really good things in the game. You look at our field goal and free throw percentage, our rebounding, 21 assists on 25 made field goals, a lot of really good things. The turnovers put us in a bad situation, and credit to Dickinson as they made us pay for most of those mistakes."

The Captains were able to cut down on the miscues in the second half, committing just nine after halftime. Hollenbeck was a consistent force at the offensive end, scoring 12 in the second half after posting 13 in the opening stanza, and making 11 consecutive free throws after missing his first attempt of the night. 

"From the opening jump, Toa was locked in and had the attack mindset, which you have to have against a team like Dickinson," Krikorian continued. "Toa set the tone for us, and I think a lot of our guys followed suit."

Four other Captains reached double figures in scoring, all with ten points, as juniors Tyson Henderson and Ryan Derderian as well as freshman Tyler Sprague and senior Collin Hines all posted ten. Hines recorded a double-double by also pulling down a game-high 14 boards, and Henderson led in the assist column with nine for the Captains.

"I think our guys had a totally different mindset coming out of the half," Krikorian said. "We were attacking more and making plays that we didn't make in the first half. Defensively is really where it starts for us, and we got a few steals that I thought were really important for us that led to run-outs. That really generated some positive momentum for us."

Christopher Newport shot 50 percent for the night from the field (25 of 50) and made 24 of 31 free throw attempts (77 percent). CNU out-rebounded the Red Devils by a 42-34 margin, and held Dickinson to 37 percent shooting from the field (23 of 62).

The two-day tourney concludes on Sunday with two games at the Freeman Center. Dickinson will play Virginia Wesleyan at 2:00 p.m., followed by Christopher Newport and Pfeiffer at 4:00 p.m.