NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University erupted for a season-high 102 points on Thursday, as the 12th-ranked Captains defeated the Panthers of Old Westbury, 102-56, in the opening round of the Holiday Inn Captains Shootout at the Freeman Center. CNU never trailed in the contest, jumping to an early 11-2 lead, and pushed the lead to as many as 47 in the final minutes en route to the 46-point triumph.

Freshman Toa Hollenbeck led a group of four Captains to reach double figures, and registered a career-high 20 points, with 18 coming in the second half. Senior All-American Jahn Hines scored 18, with 14 coming in the opening half including the first eight points of the game for the Captains. Freshmen Hasan Hammad and Isaiah Dozier each contributed a dozen points as CNU improved to 10-3 on the season. Old Westbury fell to 0-10 with the loss.

Christopher Newport Head Coach John Krikorian recorded his 300th victory leading the Captains, and now has a mark of 300-68 over the last 13 seasons. Krikorian, who led the Captains to their first National Championship last season, was named the National Coach of the Year following the 30-3 campaign. Krikorian now has an overall record of 365-110 including four years leading the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

"I don't get really caught up in the numbers, and my staff and my players deserve the credit for the successes we've enjoyed," Krikorian said following the victory. "But as a coach, if you were going to draw up how to win a game, this performance tonight had the three key elements I'd want any of our teams to demonstrate. We played great defense, we rebounded well, and shared the ball. We did all of those things at a high level, and we were completely unselfish and worked our tails off. Our bench was engaged and everyone contributed. So if there's a reason to celebrate tonight, it's because we did so many things well...and now we want to carry that over and continue the performance tomorrow."

Christopher Newport drained 16 of 47 three-point field goal attempts (34 percent), and the Captains held a 60-37 edge on the boards with fifth-year senior Jake Latta pulling down a game-high ten rebounds. Junior Ty Henderson filled up the stat sheet with seven assists, four steals, three rebounds, and two points. Jahn Hines, who added five assists and three rebounds to go with his 18 points, is now just four points behind Terry Gray for 22nd on the CNU all-time scoring list.

CNU had 12 of 13 players reach the scoring column, and the 102-point performance marked the first time the Captains have gone over the 100-point mark in just over two years. The victory was the third in as many games in the all-time series with Old Westbury.

The Captains will now play the Mustangs of Stevenson University (6-4) on Friday in the Championship game of the two-day tourney. Tip off time is set for 5:00 p.m. Old Westbury will play NJ City at 3:00 p.m. in the third-place game of the two-day tourney at the Freeman Center.