Men's Basketball Falls To Hood, 70-62, In Captains Shootout Opener

Newport News, VA --- Hood senior Chris Cook (Mechanicsburg, PA) poured in a game-best 27 points as he helped lead the Blazers to a 70-62 victory over Worcester State in the first semifinal of the Captains Shootout hosted by Christopher Newport on Monday evening.

Hood (4-5) moves on to the title game at 6 PM to take on the hosting Captains while the Lancers (2-8) will play for third place against Otterbein at 4 o'clock.

The Blazers were also paced by senior Terell Buyck (Forestville, MD) who added 12 points and five boards while classmate Reggie Daniels (Abingdon, MD) chipped in with nine buckets and six blocks.

Cook did his damage with four triples and an 11-for-12 from the charity stripe.

Sophomore Paul Brooks (Arlington, MA) notched his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 18 boards with two rejections. Senior Brendan Rios (Easthampton, MA) dropped 17 points on five three-pointers and sophomore Jeremy Bacon (Hopedale, MA/Milford) grabbed 10 rebounds.

Sophomore Ryan DiBernardo (Springfield, MA/Cathedral) also had a solid evening with 14 points, five rebounds and three helpers.

In the opening half, Hood led by as many as seven with 7:49 remaining (24-17) and 29-22 at the 4:27 mark before WSU utilized the long range shot to get back into the contest near the end of the period.  

Rios and DiBernardo combined for a three triples to key an 11-2 run to take over a 33-31 margin with 2:13 left. Cook though drained a pair of free throws at the line to help the Blazers knot up the score 33-33 just before the end of the frame.

After Hood went up 38-33 to start off the second stanza, the crowd was treated to an entertaining second period which featured eight lead changes and four ties over 15 minute span.

With the score 57-56 in favor of the Lancers around the 5:00 mark, the Blazers held their opponents scoreless over the next four minutes and used an 8-0 spurt to take over the 65-57 margin as 58 ticks remained in regulation.

Sparked by a three-pointer by freshman Connor Deegan (Weymouth, MA) and a Bacon lay-up, WSU trailed by just three points with 39 seconds left (65-62), but the Blazers canned five of their final six bids from the free throw line to seal up the win.

Hood shot 40 percent for the game (20-for-50), made half from beyond the arc (9-for-17) and missed just nine of their 30 attempts from the charity stripe (71 percent). The Blazers also used 14 swipes to force 18 miscues while finishing with a 19-5 edge in baskets off of turnovers.

Worcester State connected for 34 percent of their shots overall (24-for-69) as they also rang in nine of 30 bids from three-point land (30 percent). WSU held a significant advantage in rebounds (52-32) and second chance points (16-4).

With his 18 rebounds, Brooks coralled the second-most caroms in the history of the Captains Shootout.