St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team falls short to No. 10 Christopher Newport University, 83-67, in a hard fought Capital Athletic Conference battle Wednesday night.

Sophomore captain Delaszo Smith (Baltimore, Md./Annapolis) and first-year forward James Foley (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) helped piece together a great first half as the Seahawks (8-8, 4-5 CAC) jockeyed for the lead. Smith, who tallied 14 first-half points, gave St. Mary's its final lead of the game at 3:39 with a layup after grabbing a defensive rebound.

This push soon diminished as Christopher Newport (15-1, 9-0 CAC) ended the last 3:39 of the first half with a solid drive, going on an 11-0 run with six of the 11 points coming from junior guard Rayshard Brown (Norfolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian). The Captains staked a 35-26 halftime advantage behind the team's impetus in the final minutes.

As the second half started, the Seahawks came out swinging scoring the first four points, but ultimately, it was not enough to hold off the Captains as they stretched their lead to double digits for the final 13 minutes of the game.

Smith paced all scorers in the game with a career-best 27 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field, including three triples, and 6-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe. Foley came close to a double-double with nine points and season-best eight rebounds.

Tonight's game marks the end of the first half of conference play. The Seahawks currently find themselves tied for fifth place with Frostburg State University (6-10, 4-5 CAC) in the conference standings while CNU is in sole possession of first place.

Christopher Newport, who has won six straight, was led in the win by junior guard Kevin Regimbal's (Midlothian, Va./James River) 17 points and eight rebounds while sophomore forward Tim Daly (Richmond, Va./James River) to contribute 15 points and eight boards as well.

St. Mary's will look to climb back into the win column this Saturday, January 23rd when the Seahawks travel to Marymount (Va.) University to face the Saints (7-9, 3-6 CAC) in another conference rumble at 4:00 p.m. In their first meeting on December 30, St. Mary's notched a 63-56 victory at home.

Facebook: StMarysAthletics

Twitter: @smcseahawks, @SMCMHoops, #HawksFlyTogether

Instagram: @smcseahawks