A tough early-season schedule and a preseason national ranking of No. 2 by d3hoops.com made Christopher Newport a prime target for an upset-minded opponent.
No. 17 Marietta of Ohio accomplished that feat, dusting the Captains 74-50 Saturday night in the final game of the Hoopsville National Invitational Classic in Owings Mills, Md.
CNU fell to 2-1 despite Rayshard Brown’s 12 points, while Marcus Carter had eight points and seven rebounds. Brown was the Captains’ only double-digit scorer, and CNU shot just 26 percent (16 of 61) from the field.
Keith Richardson came off the bench to score 18 points for Marietta, which had three double-digit scorers.
William and Mary 89, Presbyterian 59: During a rout at Kaplan Arena, the Tribe (2-1) connected on 15 3-pointers, the sixth-most in school history, and had 27 assists on 32 field goals against the Big South’s Blue Hose (1-2).
It was the final game for W&M before the Tribe plays at Duke on Wednesday night.
Daniel Dixon hit five 3-pointers and had 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. Junior Jack Whitman shot 5 of 6 for a career-high 16 points, a game-high six rebounds and two blocks. Those two scored W&M’s first 24 points.
Sophomore forward Paul Rowley scored a career-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range, and junior Greg Malinowski had 10 points and five rebounds. Junior guard David Cohn had nine assists and no turnovers.
Jo’Vontae Millner led the Blue Hose with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
Virginia Tech 88, VMI 72: Zach LeDay’s 23 points and 12 rebounds sparked the Hokies (3-0) past VMI Saturday at Cassell Coliseum.
QJ Peterson paced the Keydets (1-2) with 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Providence 71, Grambling State 54: Kecoughtan High graduate Rodney “Rajay” Bullock hit 8 of 11 shots for 18 points, Emmitt Holt added 17 points and the host Friars won.
Providence (2-1) made 5 of 10 3-pointers and shot 52 percent in the first half, opening a 36-29 lead. The Friars finished at 46 percent and 9 of 23 behind the arc.
Grambling (1-2) was within eight with about seven minutes left, thanks to 50 percent shooting, but cooled off in the last five minutes.
No. 1 Duke 78, Penn State 68: Duke bounced back from its loss to Kansas by beating Penn State, but watched another player go down with an injury.
Freshman Frank Jackson led five players in double figures with 17 points, and Amile Jefferson added 16 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament in Uncasville, Conn.
Sophomore Chase Jeter, a 6-10 sophomore, rolled his left ankle in the first half and didn’t return.
Jeter went down under the Penn State basket while going for a rebound. He was on the floor for several minutes before being helped off the court. His injury came minutes after Grayson Allen left the game, favoring the right foot he hurt in Tuesday’s loss to Kansas.
Duke will play Rhode Island on Sunday for the tournament title, and then Penn State will meet Cincinnati in the consolation game.
No. 6 Indiana 87, Liberty 48: James Blackmon Jr. made five 3-pointers and had 20 points for the host Hoosiers.
Indiana (3-0) scored the first nine points and built a 32-point lead in the first half.
“The game seemed like it lasted four days,” Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said. “I cannot remember the start.”
Hoosiers coach Tom Crean did.
“The most important thing for us was to get off to a really good start defensively,” he said.
Liberty (1-2) tried to fight back with 3-pointers, but made it worse by continually missing. The Flames were 5 of 27 (18.5 percent) from beyond the arc, including 1 of 17 (5.9 percent) in the first half.
Liberty’s John Dawson, who entered with a team-best 14.5-point average, scored just two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
McKay, a former Virginia Cavaliers assistant, was overly effusive in his praise of the Hoosiers.
“Indiana is really impressive,” the coach said. “I sat on an ACC bench the last six years and saw a lot of quality teams, and Indiana is as good as I have seen in years.
“They have everything; size, depth, strength, skill, unselfishness.”
Apprentice 58, Worcester State 54: Zach Johnson scored 26 points as the Builders (1-3) beat a Massachusetts squad in the consolation game of the Dick Leftwich Tip-Off Tournament at Roanoke College.
Johnson shot 11 of 21 and grabbed six rebounds. His free throw capped an 11-0 run for a 54-48 lead, and the Builders held on.
Taaron White came off the Apprentice bench to score nine points, sinking 6 of 8 free throws.
Apprentice shot just 30 percent but held Worcester State to 34 percent. The Builders were 15 of 20 on free throws to the Lancers’ 6 of 14.
Virginia Wesleyan 101, Concordia 94: Khory Moore poured in a school-record 48 points as the Marlins, ranked 16th by d3hoops.com, won their own tipoff tournament at Batten Center. They outlasted their foes from Austin, Texas, in a game with 12 lead changes.
Moore was 14 of 22 from the field, including 6 of 10 from 3-point territory, and 14 of 14 on free throws.
Tim Jones scored 22 points, while Kecoughtan High graduate Kaelin Poe had eight rebounds, five points, three assists, two steals and two blocks for VWC.
For Concordia, Joe Neal scored 29 and Ephriam Price came off the bench to net 27.
Trinity of San Antonio 84, Hampden-Sydney 70: Despite 16 points from Williamsburg’s Jake Duncan, H-SC fell to 1-2 with a loss in the consolation game of the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Basketball Tournament in Cleveland.
Duncan hit 5 of 9 shots from 3-point range and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. He was coming off a 14-point game in the Tigers’ 84-71 first-round loss to Brockport State.
Trinity scored the first eight points coming out of halftime to go up 47-31 and led by double digits the rest of the way. Aaron Knopp led the Texas squad, shooting 8 for 8 from the field and scoring 17 points.
Albright 73, Randolph-Macon 64: The Yellow Jackets fell to 0-3 with their second loss in the Hoopsville National Invitational Classic in Owings Mills Md., though Daniel Noe scored 22 points and Michael Taylor added 14.
Omari Ringgold had 16 points and eight rebounds for Albright.
WOMEN
Virginia Tech 67, Central Florida 64: The Hokies improved to 4-0 in Kenny Brooks’ first season as coach, squeezing past the Knights (3-1) in Orlando.
Tech’s Sidney Cook, who had 17 points and nine rebounds, hit two free throws with 6 seconds left, and the Hokies’ defense clinched the game.
Chanette Hicks, from Norfolk’s Maury High, scored 15 for Tech. Freshman Kendyl Brooks, Kenny’s daughter, was 3 of 6 from 3-point range for the Hokies and scored 11 points.
CNU 63, Eastern Mennonite 50: The Captains (2-0), ranked 15th by d3hoops.com, won in Harrisonburg behind Anitra Thomas’ 12 points and Sam Porter’s 13 rebounds.
Devon Byrd had 10 points and eight rebounds for CNU. Makenzie Fancher had six assists, seven points and four rebounds.
Penn State Beaver 71, Apprentice 67, OT: The Builders (0-2) went ahead by 16 points in the second quarter, but the hosts came back to beat them in Beaver’s tip-off tournament.
Courtney White (23 points and seven rebounds) and Ylexzis Traeger (18 points and 11 rebounds) led Apprentice.
For Beaver, Mia Mattes had 19 points and Cassandra Flowers had 18 rebounds and 11 points. Mattes’ layup with 1:21 left broke a 67-67 tie.
Both teams struggled with keeping possession. Apprentice had 34 turnovers, Beaver 37.
Virginia Wesleyan 64, Averett 63: Amanda Gerni sank a 3-pointer with 6 seconds to go to erase the Cougars’ 63-61 lead and boost the Marlins to a victory in the first round of Mary Washington’s four-team tournament in Fredericksburg.
