On January 21st the Christopher Newport Captains and Santa Cruz Banana Slugs met on the hardwood to battle for victory. The game ended with CNU up by 23, in a 85-62 score. The Captains are ranked number 9 in Division III and have an overall 15-2  record. CNU took a quick 13-0 lead and the Slugs had some difficulty getting the ball into the net. Treyson Keating broke the spell when he hit a putback layup to get the Slugs their first points.
At halftime, Avri Finch led his team with 12 points. Behind Finch, Tyler Kessinger and Treyson Keating followed with 4 points each.  Simon Mueller-Landsvik, the Banana Slugs' quick point guard, led the team in steals with 3 just in the first half. The Captains starters, Jahn Hines, led the team with 9 points. Behind him Trey Barber (8) and Ty Henderson (6) trailed close behind.
The Banana Slugs were down 11 points at the half, putting up a good fight after being down by 21 at 9:46. During the beginning of the second half, the Slugs and Captains traded points back and forth with the Captains maintaining their first half lead. With 11 minutes left the Slugs trailed the Captains at a 20 point deficit but refused to give the win up easily.
With 8 minutes to go in the game, Matthew McDonald came off the bench and made his first three-pointer of the season. Mueller-Landsvik did not take his foot off the gas either,and  with five minutes to go hit a contested long jumper and driving layup. Along with Mueller-Landsvik, Finch continued to score and rebound despite the Banana Slugs loss. He was 7-15 from the field and ended the game with a game-high 22 points. Garrett Kelly came into the game with just minutes to go to hit a three, showing the Slugs resilience and determination to continue to give CNU a tough game.

The teams play again Saturday night at 7pm at Kaiser Permanente Arena.