Newberry (17-6, 7-5 SAC) was led by 20-point performances from a pair of starters and a double-double off the bench. Brett Goodwell (Inglewood, Calif.) scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds to go with a game-best five assists, while Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas) scored 21 points and snagged nine rebounds.
Kendrick Johnson (Orangeburg) earned his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with four blocked shots. Vytautas Valiulis (Vilnius, Lithuania) scored 11 points in his return from a two-game absence from play.
Catawba (14-8, 6-5 SAC) was paced by Rob Fields, who scored 22 points off the bench. Dominick Reid scored 14 points and Antonio Houston and Cliff Burns each netted 11.
Newberry opened the game on a 7-0 run and did not allow a Catawba field goal until the 15:20 mark of the first half. The scarlet and gray stretched their lead to seven at many points in the half, but Catawba came back and tied the game 23-23 on a deep 3-pointer from Houston with three minutes until the break.
NC allowed only one more Catawba field goal in the half, and a jumper in the key from Ty Overmyer (Dawsonville, Ga.) gave Newberry the 29-25 lead going into the locker room. Newberry was 13-of-31 (41.9-percent) from the field in the opening stanza and limited Catawba to 8-of-26 (30.8-percent) shooting, forcing 11 turnovers and blocking five shots.
The scarlet and gray scored the first points of the second half, but the hosts came back to tie the game just three and a half minutes into the period. Catawba took its first lead of the game on a Fields 3-pointer with 14:42 to play.
The two sides battled back and forth down the stretch, with neither side able to take a lead of more than four points until a strong Newberry surge in the final five minutes.
After a pair of Burns free throws knotted the score at 59-all with 5:12 to play, Newberry went on an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to pull away. Goodwell and Martin were perfect from the charity stripe in the run, while Johnson and Valiulis each contributed buckets.
A Goodwell three-point play with 1:57 to play gave Newberry a nine-point lead and took the wind out of Catawba’s sails for good as Newberry held the hosts at bay en route to the 79-73 victory.
Newberry shot 50 percent overall, including a blistering 19-of-33 (57.6-percent) in the second half. The team held Catawba to 23-of-59 (39.0-percent) shooting, forced 18 turnovers and blocked seven shots.
The scarlet and gray take the weekend off before returning home to host Tusculum next Wednesday. Tipoff in Eleazer Arena is set for 8 p.m.
Courtesy of Newberry College Sports Information
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