NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Men's Basketball competed in the championship of the Captain's Shootout against Christopher-Newport University today where they came up short, 79-71.

Braxton Benham was right back to doing Braxton Benham things as he poured in 27 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

Other key performers for the Vikings included Jacob Morgan, who had 13 points and 8 rebounds, and Drew Winegarden, who had 10 points and 6 rebounds.  

The story of the first half for the Vikings was their relentless defensive effort. They held the Captains to just 38.9 percent from the field and created opportunities for themselves offensively through their defense. 

Braxton Benham picked up where he left off with the first basket of the game for the Vikings as he finished a layup at the rim. A few plays later, Benham found Nile King with a nice outlet pass that set up an easy dunk for King, cutting the Christopher-Newport lead to 2, 6-4. 

Later in the half, The Vikings fell behind 15-24 after an 8-2 CNU run with 4:51 to play in the first half. Senior leader Braxton Benham responded well as he slashed through the lane and finished a layup to cut the lead to 7.

A few plays later, Drew Winegarden found his rhythm. Winegarden found himself open off an inbound pass and drained a corner three-pointer. On the very next Viking possession, Winegarden drilled another three-pointer from the left wing to cut the CNU lead to 4, 27-23. Jacob Morgan would then get in on the long-range display as he received a pass from Braxton Benham and sank a high-arcing three-pointer, bringing the Vikings within 2 points with 2:25 left to play in the first half. As the teams went back and forth to close out the half, Braxton Benham got loose on a backdoor cut that ended in a huge one-handed dunk over a defender, cutting the Captain lead back to two, 35-33, as the first half came to a close.

The Vikings continued to stay on the trail of the Captains throughout the first ten minutes of the second half. Finally, the Vikings took their first lead of the game with two Braxton Benham free throws that made the score 58-57. CNU would not blink as they calmly went on a 9-3 run to take a 66-61 lead at the 4-minute mark. Despite the Vikings continuing to hold strong and make plays in the final minutes, Berry fell just short by a final score of 79-71. 

Men's Basketball will take an extended break before opening up Southern Athletic Association Conference play at home against Sewanee on January 10 at 8 PM ET.