Men's Basketball Snaps Two-Game Losing Streak, Sneaks Past Ferrum, 80-79

NEWPORT NEWS, VA - Christopher Newport's men's basketball team broke its two-game losing streak Saturday afternoon with an 80-79 win over Ferrum.

The Captains led by four, 80-76, with 1:09 left on Davon Barton's running jumper in the lane. On the very next Ferrum possession, Keith Harris drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to one with 53 ticks left. The Captains, leading by one, drove the length of the floor and took a lot of time off the clock and Barton's jumper was off with the shot-clock winding down and the Panthers rebounded the ball.

At the other end of the court, Jerrell Wade's driving lay-up with three seconds left was blocked by Mark Blasingame for his fifth block of the game, out of bounds. Ferrum in-bounded the ball and Robbie Price's attempt was no good and the Captains Donta Selden grabbed the rebound as time expired.

CNU led 37-36 at halftime and quickly sprinted out to a 54-44 lead with 14:18 to play on Korey Lewis' jumper. The Captains largest lead would come seven minutes later as they went up 12, 67-55, on Theo Baker's three.

Ferrum would not go quietly as they scored 10 straight points to cut the lead to two, 67-65 with 5:53 left on a Wade lay-up. Christopher Newport countered with five straight points of its own to push the lead back to seven, 72-65, with just over four minutes to play. The Panthers would cut the lead down to one several times, including in the final minute of play.

Ferrum finished 33-of-63 (52%) from the field, 6-of-15 (40%) from long range but just 7-of-18 (39%) from the free throw line. The Captains were 30-of-63 (48%) from the floor, 5-of-13 (39%) from behind the arc and 15-of-20 (75%) from the charity stripe.

Cedric Jones led the Panthers with 18 points while Jon Godsey contributed 16 points and eight rebounds and Wade finished with 12 points off the bench.

Korey Lewis tied a career-high with 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting and he added seven rebounds. Baker added 16 points, Barton added 14 points and seven assists and Selden had 13 points, six rebounds and a season-high seven assists.

Ferrum drops to 7-10 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Christopher Newport improves to 10-6 and 2-1 in the USA South. CNU returns to action Tuesday as they host Averett at 7:30 pm.

Box Score