Christopher Newport broke open a close game in the second half Wednesday night at the Freeman Center, pulling away from St. Mary's for a 64-50 final verdict. The Captains improved to 14-4 overall and 8-3 in the Capital Athletic Conference with the victory in front of 612 fans.

Senior Aaron McFarland, wearing goggles due to an eye injury, wasn't hampered and led the way with a 20-point performance. McFarland, who moved into 12th place on CNU's all-time scoring list, knocked down six of 11 shots and tallied 13 of his points in the second half as the Captains out-scored the Seahawks, 38-25. St. Mary's fell to 3-15 overall and 2-9 in the CAC with the loss.

"They out-toughed us in the first half and I was disappointed with our performance to open the game," Head Coach John Krikorian said. "We played some different people in the second half and got the spark we were looking for. St. Mary's played a tough game, they out-rebounded us on our home court, and that shouldn't happen."

CNU went ahead by as many as nine in the first half, 26-17, but the Seahawks rallied and scored the final eight points of the half to close the gap to 26-25 at the intermission. St. Mary's then briefly jumped ahead early in the second half, 32-31, before the Captains rallied and went on a 17-5 run to build a 48-37 advantage. The Seahawks then never got closer than seven points as Christopher Newport recorded its second win of the season over St. Mary's and the eighth straight in the series.

Freshman Jason Aigner sank three three-pointers and scored 11 points for the Captains. Fellow freshman Adrian Beasley was also in double digits with ten, six coming in the second half. Sophomore Luther Gibbs scored two points, but posted eight rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and a steal.

The Seahawks ended up out-rebounding the Captains by a 33-29 margin. St. Mary's was led by sophomore Jerrel Elder's 12 points followed by 11 points from senior Chris Craft. Sophomore Reggie Rouse added nine points and a team-high seven boards. The Seahawks have now lost three straight and nine of their last ten. CNU beat St. Mary's in St. Mary's City, Md., 76-52, on December 6th in the first meeting of the season. The Captains now hold a 15-9 advantage in the all-time series.

McFarland, who didn't practice on Tuesday due to the eye injury, converted on four of six attempts from beyond the arc. His 20-point effort now gives him 1,343 points for his career in 107 games as a Captain. He is just nine points behind Ted Berry for 11th on the scoring list. 

"Aaron is such a warrior, he just gives us everything he's got every night...and every night in this conference is a tough challenge," Krikorian continued. "We've got to be focused and ready to play every time we hit the floor. Having a number of talented players on the bench is a great advantage for this team, and tonight we benefited from some great efforts."

CNU made nine of ten shots at the foul line and turned the ball over just ten times while forcing 17 St. Mary's turnovers as the Captains improved to 7-2 at home this season.  Christopher Newport will hit the road for its next two games, beginning Saturday at Wesley College. Tipoff time is set for 3:00 p.m. for the Capital Athletic Conference game at Wentworth Gymnasium in Dover, Delaware.