BUENA VISTA, Va. -Two 11-0 runs powered Christopher Newport's 77-54 victory Wednesday night at Southern Virginia University. The Captains improved to 14-2 overall and 4-1 in the Capital Athletic Conference following the triumph at Knights Sports Arena.

CNU opened the game by scoring the first 11 points, and then stretched the lead in the second half with another 11-0 burst. Junior Luther Gibbs led the way with 16 points, while senior Marcus Carter added 14 and sophomore Jason Aigner recorded 14. The loss was the seventh straight for SVU, as the Knights fell to 4-12 overall and 0-5 in the CAC.

"I thought we had a crispness at the start of both halves that helped us get ahead of them," Head Coach John Krikoriansaid. "They're an explosive team that never stops coming at you. I give Southern Virginia a lot of credit, they made us work all night and just didn't ever back down. This is a tough place to play, and a great win for us."

After the Captains opened with the 11-0 surge, the Knights were later able to cut the lead as close as one, 29-28. CNU bounced back and built the lead to nine at the intermission, 39-30. After Southern Virginia cut the advantage to eight, 52-44, the Captains registered their second 11-0 run of the night to pull out to a 63-44 advantage. Christopher Newport never trailed in the game, and pushed the lead to as many as 23, the final margin of 77-54.

CNU's stingy defense held the Knights to just 24 points after the break, and limited SVU to just 40.7 percent shooting for the night (22 of 54). The Captains made 30 of 67 shots for the night (44.8 percent), and knocked down ten of 30 three-point attempts (30 percent).

Carter, who finished with eight rebounds to go with his 14 points, moved past Aaron McFarland into ninth place on CNU's all-time scoring list. He has now scored 1,561 career points in 110 games and is 47 points behind DavonBarton for eighth place on the list.

CNU now holds a 17-1 lead in the all-time series with Southern Virginia, and the Captains have won seven straight games in the series.The Knights were led by junior big man Tyler McCreadie's 19 points.

The Captains are now in a three-way tie for first place at 4-1 in the CAC standings following Wednesday night's action. CNU is tied with York and Mary Washington atop the standings. Christopher Newport returns to the Freeman Center on Saturday, hosting Penn State-Harrisburg in a 4:00 p.m. start.