NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- In their first game in over 11 days, the 20th-ranked Christopher Newport Captains improved to 6-1 on the season with a 66-46 win over Eastern Mennonite Uniiversity (7-4). The CNU defense held the high-powered Royals offense to a season-low 46 points on 27.4% shooting. 

Junior Tra Benefield led the way for CNU, posting his third double-double of the season in the win with a game-high 21 points paired with 12 rebounds.  Sophomore Nik Biberaj also filled the stat sheet, with a game-high 13 rebounds to go with seven points, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot. 

Early in the game, both teams were struggling from the floor shooting and combined for just one made field goal each over the first 5:51 of game time. The game was knotted up at 13 with 9:09 showing on the clock when rookie Connor Laframboise finally triggered a small CNU run to give the home team some breathing room. On back-to-back possessions, Laframboise nailed a pair of long three-pointers from the right wing, putting the Captains up 19-13. 

CNU would close the half on a 17-5 run to build on that edge, taking a 14-point lead into the locker room at 36-22. Benefield had eight points and eight boards at the break and the Captains defense had seven steals. Eastern Mennonite's Andrew Thorne had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, but the rest of the Royals combined to go just 4-of-21 from the field in the first half. 

In the second half, the Captains would keep the visitors at bay, seeing their advantage drop to single digits only once, after a 7-2 rush to start the half cut the lead to 38-29. Adam Burroughs hit a three-pointer for the Royals with 15:40 remaining to get EMU back within nine, but it would be as close as they would get after the Captains responded with modest 7-0 run of their own to retake a 16-point edge. 

Benefield had 13 second-half points, including a dunk with 2:08 remaining to punctuate a big Captains run that put the home team up by 21 points, 64-43. CNU would coast to the 20-point win from there, as reserves Rashon Woody and D.J. Roberson led the way. Woody poured in nine points off the bench and Roberson hauled in a career-high five rebounds to go with four points on a night where he saw 18 minutes of action.

The Royals offense never got going after coming into the game averaging over 82 points per game. Eastern Mennonite finished the night hitting just 27.4% of their shots on 17-of-62 from the field. Thorne had 18 points and seven rebounds. 

CNU finished the second half shooting 50% from the floor (11-22), improving their game mark to 41.8% as a team on 23-of-55 shooting. Benefield and Biberaj each had a pair of steals to lead a defense that grabbed 11 in the game, while Bryan Stith added a pair of the five total blocks for CNU.

After taking an 11-day break for final exams, the CNU squad will now endure another dry spell in the schedule, with nine days off for the holidays before returning to the Freeman Center for the Holiday Inn Captains Shootout December 28-29. CNU will open the tournament against Heidelberg at 7:30 pm on the 28th.