BUENA VISTA, Va. - Senior Aaron McFarland provided the spark Wednesday night as Christopher Newport surged past Southern Virginia University at Knight Sports Arena, 83-58. McFarland broke a 17-17 tie in the opening half by scoring 11 straight points, propelling the Captains to an 11-3 record for the season and a 5-2 record in the Capital Athletic Conference.

McFarland finished with a game-high 19 points and made seven of 11 shots, including five of seven from beyond the three-point line. He now has climbed into 15th place on the CNU all-time scoring list, tied with former teammate Tim Daly. McFarland started the barrage with a two-pointer, and continued by draining a trio of three-pointers to put the Captains on top, 28-17.

CNU went on to hold a 40-31 advantage at the half, and then put the game away by scoring the first 18 points of the second half. The Captains held the Knights scoreless for the first five minutes of the second stanza, and led by as many as 32, 76-44. Senior Spencer Marin scored 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds, and freshman Jason Aigner (12 points) and sophomore Cutch Ellis (10 points) were also in double digits. Sophomore Luther Gibbs scored seven points, but posted a career-high ten assists and also finished with five rebounds, three blocks, and three steals.

"We did a lot of good things tonight," Head Coach John Krikorian said. "Coming off the loss on Saturday at Marymount, we were focused and we really seemed to come together. When you're young with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, it takes time. Tonight we took some big steps."

CNU finished the night shooting 48 percent from the field (33 of 69) and the Captains made 12 of 27 from long range (44 percent). Christopher Newport also out-rebounded the Knights, 37-34.

Southern Virginia was led by 12 points from senior Aarun Rumbaugh, all in the opening half. The Knights were without two key big men due to injuries as senior Cale Thornton and sophomore Tyler McCreadie did not suit up. Freshman Spencer Brown was also in double figures for the Knights, scoring ten points.

Christopher Newport travels to York, Pa., on Saturday to take on undefeated and eighth-ranked York College. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m. at Charles Wolf Gymnasium. The Spartans improved to 14-0 overall and 7-0 atop the CAC with a victory over Penn State-Harrisburg Wednesday night.