No. 12 Marlins Fall in Waning Minutes to No. 13 CNU 64-61
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The No. 12 Virginia Wesleyan College men's basketball team could not capitalize on a shot attempt before time expired, falling 64-61 to No. 13 Christopher Newport University in non-conference action Sunday.
The Marlins were held to just 61 points, the second-fewest scored by Virginia Wesleyan this year, as the CNU defense worked hard to guard closely on the perimeter.
The contest went back and forth until late in the game as the two squads were tied at 55 with 4:41 to play on a layup by CNU's Tim Daly.
A miss by both teams and a turnover gained the ball back to the Marlins where Daevon Browncapitalized on a second-chance opportunity, earning the foul following a Kaelin Poe rebound, knocking down both free throw attempts.
Christopher Newport gained the edge on the scoreboard again as Justin Hampton connected from deep from the left wing off a pass from Daly in the post. The lead would not last long as Tim Jonesdrove the lane, kicking out to Khory Moore who drained a three of his own for the 60-58 VWC lead with three minutes to play.
Poe forced a steal on CNU's next possession and fed it up court to Brown who was fouled driving to the basket. He connected on one of two from the charity stripe for a 61-58 lead with 2:47 remaining.
Christopher Newport scored the final six points of the game, four coming from Aaron McFarland, while the Marlins missed their final four attempts from the field.
CNU shot 49% from the field while holding Virginia Wesleyan to 32.8% overall and 25% from deep.
McFarland finished with 15 points and four assists for Christopher Newport (7-0) while Rayshard Brown tallied 14 points and four steals. Daly ended the afternoon with 10 points and nine boards off the bench.
Jones paced the Marlins with a career-high 18 points and three steals as Moore and Nick Doyle finished with 14 points. Doyle also tallied seven rebounds on the day.
No. 12 Virginia Wesleyan (5-3) will travel to the University of Mary Washington (5-3) Tuesday for a 7 p.m. start.