NEWPORT NEWS, Va.- Christopher Newport's season-opening winning streak was snapped at three Sunday afternoon. The Captains were beaten by Emory University, 92-90, in the title game of the Captains Shootout at the Freeman Center.

CNU, now 3-1, fell behind by nine at the half, 48-39, and then trailed by as many as 17 in the second half. A furious comeback effort saw the Captains pull even at 90-90 on two free throws from sophomore Terry Jackson with 44 seconds remaining.

Emory, though, would answer with a jumper from McPherson Moore with just 12 seconds on the clock. The Captains last shot, from junior Mike Cherry cutting to the basket in the final seconds, wouldn't fall and the Eagles held on for the two-point win.

"You can't play poorly for 30 minutes and then play well for the final 10 minutes and expect to win the game," Head Coach John Krikorian said. "We didn't do enough against a very good opponent to win today. I was proud of the way we fought back, but the hole was just too deep."

Christopher Newport struggled at the foul line all day. The Captains, a team that shoots 69 percent from the line on the season, made only 21 of 42 attempts on Sunday.

Cherry led CNU in scoring with 27 points, making nine of 15 shots and six of eight from three-point range. Cherry also added five rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore Evan Thorpe helped fuel the comeback effort with 17 of his 20 points coming in the seond stanza. Thorpe also posted seven rebounds and four steals.

"Evan is a warrior, we've seen him battle like that a lot over the last two years," Krikorian continued. "We just needed more efforts like that today to win this game."

Senior Tra Benefield was held to 15 points, but moved into 8th place on the all-time CNU scoring list by passing both Ted Berry and Matt Bryant. Benefield has now scored 1,366 career points in 82 games as a Captain, and is 242 points behind Davon Barton for 7th on the list.

The Captains out-rebounded the Eagles, 45-31, with Thorpe leading the squad with seven boards.

Emory, now 3-2, was led by 34 points from Jake Davis, with 17 scored in each half. Moore, who hit the game-winner, finished with 22 off the Eagles bench. Emory shot 50 percent from the field, making 31 of 62 shots for the day.

The meeting was the first ever between the two schools in men's basketball.

Christopher Newport returns to action next Sunday, December 1st, at Eastern Mennonite. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in Harrisonburg, Va.