NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Junior Toa Hollenbeck registered a new career high Sunday, scoring 32 points while leading Christopher Newport University to a 93-88 victory over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The victory was the eighth straight for the 17th-ranked Captains, and the 15th in their last 16 games. John Krikorian's squad is now 16-3 on the season.

Hollenbeck, who went over the 1,000-point mark for his career earlier this month, scored 21 of his 32 in the opening half as CNU opened a 46-34 lead at the intermission. The Chesapeake, Va., native knocked down all five of his three-point attempts in the first half and finished the game six-of-seven from long range. Hollenbeck passed his previous high of 30 points scored vs. John Jay in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last March. 

Senior Collin Hines scored 15 points, and juniors Zyir Baskerville and Tyson Henderson also reached double figures for Christopher Newport with 13 points each.

"I thought we really needed to come out and throw some punches today," Head Coach John Krikorian said following the victory. "What Toa did early really gave our whole team a lot of confidence. Overall, I thought we did a good job managing the game for the first 38 minutes, until they came back and made it interesting down the stretch."

The Captains pushed their lead to as many as 15, 76-61, on an Isaiah Dozier three-pointer with 8:28 to play in the second half, but the Crusaders would not go away quietly. Mary Hardin-Baylor, now 13-6, rallied in the final minutes, cutting the CNU advantage all the way down to two, 90-88, with just 18 seconds left on the clock. The Captains would hold on thanks to a free throw from Tyson Henderson with 17 seconds to go, and two more at the line from Collin Hines with just one second remaining, to secure the five-point triumph. UMHB out-scored the Captains, 27-14, over the final seven minutes as the Captains made just one of their last 11 shots from the field.

Hines led the Captains in rebounds with eight as CNU out-rebounded the Crusaders, 41-39. Hines also added two blocks, two steals and two assists. Baskerville also filled the stat sheet by contributing six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Junior Ethan Ward also posted strong numbers with six boards, four blocks, three assists and a pair of steals. 

"We did just enough to get the win, and made some big rebounds and defensive stops when we had to," Krikorian continued. "This is a really good win for us over a Top 30 team, and we've got to just keep getting better."

The game was just the second of the two schools, and both have been won by the Captains. CNU defeated the Cru, 72-60, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at the Freeman Center in 2023 on the way to Christopher Newport's National Championship. 

The Captains improved to 9-1 at the Freeman Center this season with the five-point win. Next up on the schedule, Christopher Newport will travel to Misenheimer, N.C., next Sunday to take on Pfeiffer University. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.