NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Washington & Jefferson College men's basketball team suffered a 90-61 loss to 15th ranked Christopher Newport in Second Round action of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament Saturday evening at the Freeman Center in Newport News, Va.

The Presidents, who recorded their first NCAA Tournament win in 32 years during an 82-77 win over Mount Union in Friday's first round, conclude the campaign with a 23-7 record. The 23 wins are the second most in a season in program history. W&J has won 20 or more games six times in program history, four of which have come under head coach Ethan Stewart-Smith. 

Christopher Newport, winners of the Division III National Championship just three seasons ago, improve to 23-5 overall and advance into next weekend's Sweet 16 round with the win. CNU moves to 14-1 at the Freeman Center this season.

Matt Seidl (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) led the Presidents with 18 points and six rebounds in the loss. The North Hills product finishes his W&J career tied for 10th in scoring with 1,402 points. Alex Acosta (Acworth, Ga./North Cobb) scored eight points for the Presidents. Acosta compiled 1,106 points during his four-year collegiate career. 

The Captains used an efficient start offensively to build an 8-4 advantage at the under 16-minute media timeout. A few minutes later, CNU tacked on a pair of made three-pointers to extend the advantage to 14-6.

Seidl helped the Presidents cut into the Captains' lead with back-to-back triples, which made it 14-12 at the 11:44 mark. The hosts added to their lead with an 11-2 run that extended their advantage to 25-14 with 9:41 remaining in the first half.

The Presidents continued to battle and responded with eight-straight points of their own. Matthew Carte (Ravenswood, W.Va./Ravenswood) accounted for four points during the spurt, all of which came on the free throw line. A driving layup by Michael Plasko (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) cut the Presidents' deficit to 29-28 at the 4:05 mark.

CNU used a strong close to the first half to take a double-digit lead into halftime. The Captains put together a 14-4 run over the final four minutes to have a 43-32 advantage at the break. CNU limited W&J to one made field goal during the stretch.

The Captains shot 48.6 percent from the field during the first half. Seidl paced all W&J scorers at the break with 10 points.

The second half was dominated by Christopher Newport. The Captains quickly put the game away with an extended 17-3 run. That stretch included 12-straight points that swelled the lead to 60-35 with 12:54 to play.

The Presidents trimmed the deficit back to 20 points on a triple by Burlenski at the 9:30 mark. However, the Captains would tack on another run to continue to hold a commanding lead the rest of the way.

Christopher Newport shot 48.7 percent from the field, made nine-of-22 three-point attempts (40.9 percent) and outrebounded W&J by a 53-29 margin. W&J converted 36.4 percent from the field and 18-of-25 attempts at the free throw line (72 percent).

The senior class helped the Presidents compile a 73-37 record over the past four seasons. W&J advanced to the PAC Tournament title game in each of the past two seasons. The Presidents were making their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament (1985, 1994, 2022, 2026) after claiming their 11th conference title last Saturday evening.