Despite the defeat, Methodist (15-9, 11-3) still wins the USA South outright thanks to Shenandoah’s 62-58 victory over Greensboro. The top-seeded Monarchs will face Averett on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the USA South Tournament at North Carolina Wesleyan.
Methodist appeared flat after Saturday’s emotional victory over Shenandoah, and Christopher Newport took advantage. The Captains raced out to a 7-0 lead, and increased it to 17-8 on Otho Hampton’s baseline jump shot at the 12:57 mark. Methodist then went six minutes without a field goal as Christopher Newport increased the lead to 25-12 at the 7:11 mark.
The Captains’ largest lead in the first half was 20 points, 34-17 on a lay-up by center Mark Hepner at the 2:24 mark.
The closest Methodist could trim the deficit in the second half was 14 points, 58-44 on Sam Porter’s free throw with 8:39 remaining. However, Christopher Newport responded with a 10-0 run as point guard Blake Brookman scored six points in the rally.
Brookman scored 17 points to pace Christopher Newport (15-10, 9-5), which did not finish in either first place or second place in the conference for the first time in 15 years. Hampton scored 15 points and Hepner scored 12 points.
For Methodist, Porter scored 19 points on 9-for-10 shooting from the field, while Eugene Grant scored 14 points and Arthur Hatch added 10 points. Hatch also recorded three blocked shots, moving him into seventh place all-time in NCAA Division III with 316.