Cape Henry grad Astorga helps lead Marlins

NORFOLK

Chris Astorga found the rims at the Constant Center to his liking.

"If we could play here every day, I'd be fine with that," Astorga said.

The Virginia Wesleyan junior, a Cape Henry Collegiate graduate, scored 25 points, making 10 of 17 from the field, to lead the Marlins over rival Christopher Newport 89-74 in a benefit game for Coaches vs. Cancer at the Constant Center on Saturday.

DJ Woodmore, a Landstown High graduate, added 22 points as the Marlins (16-2) won for the 10th straight time over CNU.

This one didn't come without a fight. The Captains, who came in on a 12-game winning streak, jumped out to an eight-point, first-half lead before Wesleyan responded with an 18-2 run.

The Marlins took a nine-point lead into halftime after Astorga hit a 3 at the buzzer. Jogging to the locker room at the half, Astorga wasn't shy about voicing his opinion.

"They shouldn't be running with us," he said.

The Marlins, ranked No.5 in Division III, pride themselves on their speed, and once they began rebounding and defending better, they ran away.

Wesleyan led 60-47 before CNU (16-4) came back behind the interior play of 6-foot-7 freshman Nik Biberaj (21 points), who scored six straight.

The Captains were within five, at 66-61, when Woodmore and Tre Ford hit layups. A 3-point play by Woodmore pushed the lead to 78-64 with 5:10 left.

The Marlins rolled from there.

"We can do better, but on the whole, we made plays and stops when we had to," Marlins coach Dave Macedo said. "We didn't make any big mistakes. We made them make plays."

Guard Mike Cherry (26 points) made many for the Captains, driving and drawing fouls, and hitting 9 of 11 free throw tries. But CNU made 1 of 13 3-point attempts, while Wesleyan hit 8 of 19, several in transition.

"We knew if we ran, we're a hard team to stop," Astorga said.

Ed Miller, 757-446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com