SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- Playing against Mary Washington in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship Game for the fifth straight season, the 10th-ranked Christopher Newport men's basketball team finished as runner-up in the 2026 conference tournament after an 88-58 setback to the 7th-ranked Eagles. 

Matching up against Mary Washington for the third time this season, the Captains were unable to catch a red-hot Eagles squad that finished the game shooting nearly 54 percent (29-54). Despite leading in the game for much of the first half, the Captains were thwarted when top-seeded Mary Washington used a 10-0 run to take control late in the period. The first-half lead grew to 11 with less than two minutes to go on a Jadon Burgess three-pointer, 37-26, before the Captains scored seven of the last ten to head into the locker room down just seven, 40-33. 

The final stretch of the first half was dominated by junior forward Ethan Ward for the Captains as he scored seven of his team-high 13 points in the final three minutes of the first half. Looking inside for their veteran big man, the Captains got Ward back-to-back short jumpers off feeds from Collin Hines and Toa Hollenbeck. Then, junior point guard Tyson Henderson put his defender on skates as his crossover gave him room to bury a mid-range jumper with 90 seconds left. After the defense forced a miss, Hines rebounded and pushed ahead to Hollenbeck for a quick jumper; the initial shot was off the mark, but Hines finished his full-court sprint by elevating and slamming down the second-chance bucket on the rebound. 

The Eagles stymied the Captains' late run with a three-pointer by Colin Mitchell, but CNU looked back inside on their final possession. Hollenbeck slipped between a pair of defenders before dumping off a pass on the right side for Ward. With two players leaping to try and block his shot, Ward hesitated mid-air and finished off the glass through contact for a three-point play. His free-throw made it 40-33 heading into halftime. 

Despite the late burst, Mary Washington responded with a quick start to the second half. A 13-2 run to open the second half came in just under five minutes as the Eagles opened up an 18-point lead, 53-35. From there, every time the Captains connected to trim the lead, Mary Washington managed an answer and was able to hold off any threat of a comeback from the second-seeded CNU squad. 

Hollenbeck buried a three-pointer with under 12 minutes remaining to cut the lead to 14, 56-42, and rookie Cam Quarles added another trey two minutes later to keep it within 17, 62-45, but the Captains would get no closer the remainder of the game. 

Shooting woes plagued the Captains in the second half as Christopher Newport finished the stanza just 8-for-33 from the floor and the team finished 22-for-66 for the game (.333). Mary Washington edged the Captains on the glass, 34-31, and had a decisive advantage from beyond the arc with nine makes in 19 attempts (.474). 

Christopher Newport got 13 points from Ward and 13 from Hollenbeck. Hollenbeck finished the C2C Tournament a perfect 15-for-15 from the free-throw line and moved up to fifth all-time in single season FT percentage (.855) -- no player in program history has ever made as many free throws at a higher efficiency than his 2025-26 campaign. His 141 makes from the charity stripe this season rank sixth most all-time and are the most in a season since CNU Athletics Hall of Famer Tim Daly connected on 149 in the 2015-16 season.

Hines finished the game with six points and six rebounds with three assists and a steal. Henderson notched eight points and six assists while running the point for CNU. Brian Weiser played a season-high 20 minutes and added four points and three rebounds while shooting 2-for-3 from the floor. 

With the win, Mary Washington improved to 24-3 while the Captains are now 21-5 overall this season. The Eagles secured the fourth conference championship in program history and their second straight while capturing the league's automatic berth into the postseason tournament. 

The Captains, well-positioned to earn one of 21 at-large bids into the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship, will now wait to learn if the team has done enough to continue the season in next week's postseason event. The selection show for Division III Men's Basketball is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on NCAA.com this Monday, March 2.