The Newberry College men's basketball team held visiting to North Georgia to 28.1 percent shooting from the floor and followed a strong performance off the bench by Danny Huffor to pick up its first win of the season, 69-52, in Eleazer Arena on Saturday.

Newberry (1-2) was led by 18 points, six rebounds and four steals by Huffor (Marco Island, Fla.), as the team held onto a halftime lead for the first time this season. Stephane Bakinde (Yaounde, Cameroon) netted 15 points and grabbed six rebounds to round out Newberry's double-digit scorers.

The Saints (2-1) were an abysmal 3-of-27 (11.1 percent) from three-point range and had no double-digit scorers in their first loss of the year. Kindall Butler (Atlanta, Ga.), Bernard Rimmer (Grenada, Miss.) and Andrew Bennett (Coventry, England) led NGCSU with nine points apiece, while Butler was just short of a double-double with nine rebounds.

Newberry's defense was the star of the show, as the Saints were held to 22 points in the first half. North Georgia was averaging 100 points per game coming into the contest. However, Newberry did not run away with the game early. The Scarlet and Gray led, 6-2, in the first two minutes before starter Ray Robinson (Jacksonville, Fla.) left the game with a bloodied nose. NGCSU surged to take the lead and did not rescind it until Bakinde's fastbreak three-point play off of a Huffor steal with 8:06 left in the half.

That play keyed a 10-2 run, giving Newberry a seven point advantage when Jeremee Davis (Albany, Ga.) make a breakaway layup with 5:10 to play. Newberry held NGCSU at arm's length and claimed its biggest lead of the half at the very end when Aaron Edwards (Duluth, Ga.) sank a three-pointer from the corner just before time expired to give the scarlet and gray a 30-22 halftime lead.

Newberry limited North Georgia's scoring opportunities in the second half, as the Saints only connected on 10 field goals in the half on 35 shots. The hosts held a double-figure lead for the majority of the second half, but the Saints brought the lead down to eight points with 6:09 to play.

NC responded with five straight points on a pair of Huffor free throws and a Ryan Barnes (Oviedo, Fla.) three-pointer to make it a 13-point lead at the 4:58 mark. The Saints would not get closer than 11 points for the rest of the game, and Davis' free throw with 52 seconds to play gave Newberry its largest lead of the game at 67-49. Buck Reed (Lawrenceville, Ga.) made NGCSU's thrid three-pointer of the game, but Huffor's emphatic breakaway dunk in the final 25 seconds put an exclamation point in the first career win for head coach Steve DeMeo.

Jawuan Lockhart (Washington, D.C.) led the team with five assists, as every player on the Newberry squad notched an assists with the exception of the early-departed Robinson.

Newberry continues its homestand into the Thanksgiving week, as the Scarlet and Gray host Allen University on Tuesday night. Tipoff in EleazerArena is set for 7 p.m.