HARTSVILLE — The Newberry Wolves suffered a close loss on the road Wednesday evening, falling to Coker 74-72.
With the loss, the Wolves drop to 10-7 (6-5 SAC) on the season.
The Wolves made a late comeback and almost stole the game right out of the Cobras’ hands. After a Dakota Jennings dunk gave Coker a ten point lead with just 90 seconds to play, Newberry went on a huge run. Angelo Sales Jr. converted an and-one opportunity to pull the Wolves within seven points at 67-60. Chandler Lindsey gave the home team a nine point lead with two made free throws, but Marcus Ford scored just eight seconds later. Lindsey then made two more free throws with 47 seconds to play, giving the Cobras a seemingly insurmountable lead.
However, the Wolves had other ideas. Sales hit a three-pointer to pull to within six points before the Cobras missed two free throws. Marshall Lange then converted a free throw to cut the lead to five before Coker committed a turnover to give the ball right back to Newberry. Sales hit another three pointer with ten seconds left to make the score 71-69, before the Wolves immediately fouled Royce Hunter. Hunter made both crucial free throws to give the Cobras a four point lead, but Newberry was not done yet. Ford made his third three pointer of the game with just three seconds left to cut the lead to one before Lindsey made a final free throw, missing the second on purpose and ending the game.
The game started off rough for Newberry as they missed their first four shots and Coker got out to a quick 5-0 lead. Luke Gibson and TJ Brown quickly closed the gap, but the Cobras scored five more points to go up 10-5. Sales made two free throws to cut the lead to three, then made a layup before Coker hit a three pointer to extend the lead back out.
The Wolves then went on a 10-0 run highlighted by Lange’s two made baskets. The Cobras stopped the bleeding with two made free throws, but Brown then hit a three-pointer to give Newberry a seven point lead. Later in the half, two made three pointers by Ford, the conference leader in three point percentage, extended the Wolves’ lead to ten points. The Cobras went on a 7-2 run to end the half and the Newberry lead was 31-26 at the break.
Newberry got off to a good start in the second half as Sales and Brown combined for six straight points to give the Wolves a 37-30 lead. Coker closed the gap within a couple minutes; however, as Malcolm Kennedy made a three-pointer to tie the score at 38. The game continued to see-saw back and forth before the Cobras took their first lead of the second half on another Kennedy three pointer. Lindsey made a fastbreak layup a short time later to give Coker a 52-48 lead before the Cobras really took control. Two Hunter three pointers extended their lead out to ten points at 58-48, and the lead hovered around there until the frantic finish.
The Wolves were led by conference rebounding leader Angelo Sales Jr. as he finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Ford made six of eleven shots in an efficient outing and scored 17, while Brown joined them in double figures with 15.