By Nick Porter 

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.—The Southern Virginia men's basketball team opened up Capital Athletic Conference play on the road at No. 7 Christopher Newport, falling to the defending conference champions, 55-80. 

The lowest scoring first half of the season turned out to be fatal for the Knights' (2-3, 0-1 CAC) chances for an upset. Southern Virginia scored 19 points on 29% shooting, compared to CNU's 41 first half points on 44% shooting.

The Knights shot much better in the second half, nearly matching the Captains (4-1, 1-0 CAC) performance with 36 points.

Junior forward Aarun Rumbaugh (Auburn, Wash.) led all scorers with 15 points and pulled down four rebounds. Freshman guard Rashay Douglas (Jaffair Kingdom of Bahrain) added 13 points.

Junior center Cale Thornton (Lyman, Maine) gathered five boards for the Knights and freshman guard Chris Richardson (Jacksonville, Fla.) chipped in eight points and three rebounds.

Southern Virginia only had 17 turnovers, below its season average, but Christopher Newport finished with only 11 and shot lights out, 52.5% from the field.

The Knights return home for CAC action against Wesley College. Tipoff will be at 3 p.m. in the Knight Sports Arena.