NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Christopher Newport pulled away in the second half to an 81-68 win over Wesley College in Capital Athletic Conference men’s basketball on Saturday.

Wayne Lennon finished with a double-double, snagging 11 rebounds to go with 13 points while Anthony Bowers led the Wolverines (1-5, 3-10) with 19 points, but it wasn’t enough. Rasahn Brinkley scored 10 and J.W. Lawson put up a well-rounded statline of six points, six rebounds, and five assists off the bench for the Wolverines.

Wesley shot 44.1 percent from the floor and 4-for-10 from three-point range while Christopher Newport shot 46.3 percent and sank 10 threes.

CNU’s Aaron McFarland nailed six of the Captains’ three-pointers, going for 20 points off the bench.

Wesley trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half as the Captains jumped out to a 28-17 on the shooting of McFarland. The Wolverines followed with a 13-0 run spurred by eight points from Lennon to take a 30-28 lead with 4:09 remaining in the half. CNU outscored the Wolverines 8-2 the rest of the way and took a 36-32 advantage into the halftime locker room.

After the break, the Wolverines traded baskets with the Captains and stayed right with the home team in the opening minutes. Five straight points from Brinkley tied the game at 42-42 with 16:15 left.

After another McFarland three, Bowers and Lawson combined for back-to-back layups to give the Navy and White a slim lead. With 13:59 remaining, Wesley owned a 46-45 advantage. From there though, the Wolverines allowed a 17-4 run that gave the Captains a double-digit lead and Wesley would never recover.

Over the first six minutes of the second half, the Wolverines shot 6-for-8 from the floor, but for the remainder of the period the team converted just 8 of their 21 field goal attempts as the Captains pulled away for the win.

WOMEN, Christopher Newport 82, Wesley 42: The Wolverines committed 28 turnovers on their way to the loss.

Tiyanna Gibbs finished as the only Wolverine in double-digits with 15 points, while also snagging eight rebounds. The guard added a team-high three steals as well. Tiara White pulled in a team-high nine rebounds for the Wesley squad.

Wesley (1-5, 2-10) shot just 22.0 percent from the field, making 11 field goals in 50 attempts. The Wolverines were 1-for-18 from behind the arc and shot 19-for-30 from the foul line. CNU shot 42.2 percent from the floor and made 7 of their 21 three-point attempts.

The first quarter opened at a breakneck pace with each team trying to establish a run-and-gun tempo. The two team traded baskets for the first few minutes before CNU gained a six-point lead. An Adriane Fraser three-pointer cut into the deficit, making it 14-11 with 6:12 remaining, but the Captains finished the quarter on an 18-9 run to take a 32-19 lead into the second quarter.

In the second frame, the Captains picked up where they left off expanding their lead with a 13-2 run to open the period. With 5:41 remaining in the second quarter, CNU had ballooned their advantage to 45-21. Wesley continued attacking the basket on the offensive end and got all of their second quarter points off of foul shots and points in the paint. At the half, the Captains led 52-30.

In the second half, Christopher Newport turned up the intensity on the defensive end, forcing the Wolverines into 15 second half turnovers while limiting them to just two field goals on 18 attempts. The Wesley offense was stifled, held to just 12 second half points as the Captains earned the 82-42 victory.

Morgan State 56, DSU 49: The Delaware State women’s basketball team (3-11, 0-1 MEAC) could not have asked for a better start on the road in its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest of the season, scoring the game’s first seven points on its way to a 15-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter, but the Morgan State Bears (4-11, 2-1 MEAC) battled back to pull off a 56-49 victory.

With this loss, DSU failed to register a win in a conference opener for the first time since 2012-13, in addition to suffering its third consecutive loss. For Morgan State, Saturday’s win was its second victory in the last three games.

The first 10 minutes for the Hornets featured a 7-for-13 effort from the field, along with freshman sensation NaJai Pollard scoring eight of her career-high 16 points (8-of-11). The Bears, meanwhile, responded in the second quarter by outscoring Delaware State, 19-6, along with limiting the Hornets to just two field goals and forcing 10 turnovers.

As the rest of the afternoon played out, DSU stayed within striking distance managing to cut MSU’s deficit to four a handful of times, with the last occurring at the 1:47 mark in the fourth quarter. However, totaling 29 turnovers and allowing 21 offensive boards throughout the afternoon turned out to be too much to overcome, despite shooting a season-best 47 percent (21-of-45).

The Bears, on the other hand, was limited to 32 percent (18-of-56) from the field, but three players tallied double figures in the scoring column, led by leading scorer Braennan Farrar (13.6 ppg) pouring in a game-high 18 points (5-of-14). Off the bench, Tykyrah Williams (15) and Chelsea Mitchell (10) combined for 25 points, respectively.

Coming up, the Columbia Blue & Red will continue MEAC action this Monday evening (5 p.m.) at home against the Howard Bison. Last season, the two squads met once, with the Hornets pulling out an eight-point victory on the road.