Men's Basketball | 1/26/2013 6:19:00 PM

Box Score NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Tra Benefield scored 25 points and added 15 rebounds and No. 15 Christopher Newport outscored the Methodist men's basketball team, 19-7, over the game's final 7:29 to pull away with a 78-57 win on Saturday afternoon at the Freeman Center.
 
The game-ending run for the Captains (15-2, 8-1 USA South) came after a pair of free throws from both Kyle Combs and Tyler Deal had pulled the Monarchs (7-10, 4-4 USA South) to within nine points (59-50) with 7:40 left in the game. Nik Biberaj answered with a layup for CNU, Benefield followed with a layup of his own and then added a pair of free throws at the 6:16 mark that made it a 65-50 game. MU made just two of its final 10 shots from the field, while CNU hit on 6-of-10 shots from the floor and 5-of-6 attempts at the line in pulling away down the stretch.
 
Trailing by seven (37-30) as the second half began, the Monarchs pulled to within two points (45-43) following four consecutive points from Tyler Deal and then a Joey Horne layup by the 12:07 mark. CNU responded by scoring the game's next 13 points, hitting four of its next six shots from the field and 5-of-6 attempts at the line to assume a 15-point lead (58-43) with 8:10 to play.
 
Tied at 15-15 in the first period, the Captains asserted themselves with a 16-4 run, capped by back-to-back jumpers from Mike Cherry, to take their largest lead to that point (31-19) at the 5:30 mark. Bryan Hockaday then scored seven straight points for the Monarchs as MU quickly cut its deficit to five points (31-26) with 3:51 on the clock and the Captains would carry the aforementioned seven-point lead into the break.
 
CNU held the Monarchs to 35.0 percent shooting (21-60) from the floor, while connecting on 49.1 percent (28-57) of its own shot attempts. The Captains also held a 47-27 edge on the glass and shot 24 free throws (16-24), compared to just 15 (11-15) for the Monarchs.
 
Hockaday led Methodist with 11 points, all coming in the first half as he was in foul trouble much of the second. Keemon Ingram added 10 points. Hockaday also had a team-high six rebounds.
 
Benefield scored 16 of his 25 points after the break and finished 10-of-16 from the field. Cherry added 14 points, five boards and three steals and Evan Thorpe chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds.
 
Methodist will host Ferrum on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.