Men's Basketball Sneaks Past Methodist, 93-91

NEWPORT NEWS, VA - Christopher Newport's men's basketball team held off a late push by Methodist and Mark Blasingame blocked the Monarchs final attempt to tie the game as the Captains held on for a 93-91 victory Friday night.

The Captains led for the majority of the second half, at times by as many nine. Methodist tied the game at 80-80 with 3:44 to go on AB Lehmann's three-pointer. The Monarchs went ahead by one, 83-82, two possessions later on Dragan Radmonovic's long-range three.

The Captains however countered with a 9-2 run to lead by six, 91-85, with 32 seconds left on two Donta Selden free throws. Methodist would not go quietly as they would drain two more three-pointers over the next 15 seconds to cut the lead to two. After Davon Barton missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Monarchs got the rebound and came down the floor and had a decent look at a game-winning shot but the rebound fell right into Radmanovic's hands, but Blasingame came up huge with a block with three seconds to go as he swatted the ball before the Monarchs could get a shot off.

CNU once again sizzled from the field, shooting 61% in the first and 58% in the second. For the game, the Captains were 37-of-62 (60%), 6-of-17 (35%) from behind the arc and 13-of-18 (72%) from the line.

Methodist was on fire from behind the arc, hitting 13 of their 24 (54%) three-point attempts for the game. MU finished 35-of-74 (47%) from the floor and 8-of-13 (62%) from the line.

Robert Lee led the Monarchs with 24 points off the bench on 9-of-21 shooting, including 5-of-11 on three-pointers. Antwin Shuford added 18 points and seven boards while Radmanovic contributed 17 and nine boards. Lehman finished with 12 points and six assists.

For the Captains, Blasingame finished with a career-high 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting. He also had nine rebounds and four blocks. Korey Lewis added 20 points and 11 rebounds. He now is one point shy of 1,000 points for his career. Selden added 19 and Barton had 13 points and a career-high 15 assists.

Methodist falls to 10-13 overall and 5-6 in the USA South. Christopher Newport improves to 15-9 overall and 7-4 in conference play.

The Captains return to action Saturday as they host Greensboro on Senior and Hall of Fame Day with tip set for 4 pm.

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