NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Fueled by a 15-2 run midway through the second half, No. 11 Randolph-Macon topped home standing Christopher Newport 67-49 in men's basketball action Tuesday night in Newport News.
R-MC is now 18-3 overall, while CNU drops to 13-6 on the season and suffers its first home defeat of the season at the hands of the Yellow Jackets.
Eric Pugh drained four, three point field goals to lead R-MC with 16 points on the night. Joining Pugh in double digits was Brandon Braxton with 12 points and Lamar Giggetts who chipped in with 12 off the bench for the Jackets. Giggetts helped the R-MC bench to a 22-7 advantage over the CNU reserves.
The Captains were paced by a game-high 19 points from Conley Taylor, while Mike Green also had 10 points in a losing effort. CNU, which entered the game averaging 77.6 points per contest, was held to a season low 49 points on a season low 39% (19-of-50) shooting from the field.
With the score 8-4, a Calvin Croskey three pointer sparked what proved to be an 13-5 run that was capped by an Adam Desgain jumper, putting R-MC out in front 21-9 with 6:38 to go in the half.
The Yellow Jackets lead would reach as many as 13 when Croskey made a free-throw to push R-MC in front 28-15 with 26 seconds to go, before the Captains' Brian Herrmann made a basket with five seconds on the clock to send the teams to the locker room with the Jackets up by 11.
Christopher Newport chipped away and pulled within five points at 33-28 when Herrmann converted to shots from the charity stripe with just under 14 minutes to go in the ball game.
Randolph-Macon put the game away over the course of the next six minutes with the decisive 15-2 run that extended the Yellow Jackets lead to 50-32.
R-MC will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Washington & Lee at 2:00 p.m. For the third year in a row, Randolph-Macon College is partnering with a local foundation to help raise money in memory of one of their own.
When the Yellow Jackets host the Generals, a portion of all ticket sales will benefit the Matt Davis Foundation, which was established in memory of the 1991 R-MC graduate.
In addition, a raffle will be conducted with the winner receiving a $500 gift card on AirTran Airways. A post game reception will also be hosted for those in attendance.
-Yellow Jackets-