Marlins Fall 86-75 in Rivalry Contest with No. 9 CNU

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Virginia Wesleyan College men's basketball team raced out to an early lead before falling to No. 9 Christopher Newport University 86-75 in non-conference action Sunday.

The loss ends a five-game winning streak for the Marlins, who had not lost since November, going a perfect 4-0 in the month of December. The loss also snaps a streak of three games in which the Marlins topped the 100-point plateau.

The Marlins started the scoring early as senior Khory Moore made a jumper just 11 seconds into the game.

Tim Daly answered for Christopher Newport University with a layup at 18:41 before the Marlins ran off nine-straight points to go up 11-2. Moore contributed eight of those nine points, giving him 10 early points in the contest.

Christopher Newport nipped into that lead over the next 10 minutes, racing off to a 24-11 run to go up 26-22 on a Marcus Carter three-pointer at the 6:35 mark. Carter, along with Aaron McFarland, combined for 13 of CNU's 17 first-half field goals. The duo scored all of CNU's baskets over an 11-minute span in the first half.

McFarland was a big reason the Captains held a 44-34 halftime edge, as the junior guard scored 19 points off the bench on 7-of-8 shooting, 4-of-5 from distance, in the first half.

The Captains kept the Marlins at bay in the second half, leading by at least eight until late in the half. CNU went up 68-56 on a McFarland three-pointer at 9:16 when the Marlins made a late charge back into the game.

Moore knocked down a three on VWC's next possession to cut the lead to seven. Following an empty possession by CNU, Aaron Sturdifen converted for a layup to cut the deficit to 68-61.

Another triple by Moore, combined with a Tim Jones jumper finished the Marlin run at 10-0, cutting the deficit to just two points with 7:09 to play.

CNU answered with another run of its own, 9-2 this time, to go up 77-68 with 5:16 in regulation. The Marlins did not get closer than eight the rest of the way.

McFarland led No. 9 CNU (9-2) with 27 points, accounting for all of the Captains' bench scoring. Carter added 19 points and nine rebounds while Daly posted a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Regimbal added 17 points of five three-pointers.

Moore led all scorers with 31 points. He now has 1,668 points in his career, passing Stephen Fields '10 and Rick Chalk '94 to move into fourth on the Virginia Wesleyan all-time list. Andre Banks contributed 11 points while Lamont Steward posted 10 in seven minutes off the bench.

Virginia Wesleyan (8-3/1-1) travels to Randolph-Macon College (6-5/2-0) Wednesday for an ODAC contest at 7 p.m.