NEWBERRY — The Newberry College men’s basketball team (9-7, 9-5 SAC) led from wire-to-wire to defeat the Cavaliers of UVA Wise on Jan. 22 at Eleazer Arena.
Any win in this league is a great win,” said Head Coach Jason Taylor. “It turned out to be our only home game of the month, so we wanted to get a win to take advantage of it.”
The Wolves started the game off with a quick basket from QuanDaveon McCollum before trading baskets, leading to a 6-4 lead. They would then utilize a 7-0 run to pull ahead that was capped off with a three-pointer from TJ Brown.
Brown was recognized before the game for reaching his 1,000th career point in the previous game against Limestone on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
The Cavaliers went on a 9-0 run of their own to cut the lead to two points. However, a bucket down low from McCollum and a three-pointer from Marcus Ford halted the Cavaliers’ momentum. UVA Wise rallied with a 9-3 run, but Sherman Robinson used his jump hook to put the Wolves up eight points going into the halftime break with a score of 33-25.
The Wolves started the second half by letting it fly, as Ford and Brown combined for three straight three-pointers to propel Newberry to a 9-2 run. The teams traded baskets throughout the second half, and the Cavaliers were slowly creeping closer as they hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to single digits. However, Brown answered with a three of his own about thirty seconds later. The Cavaliers were able to pull within six points with two minutes remaining, but McCollum ended the game with a 6-0 run by himself, including his first made three-pointer of the season which turned out to be the dagger as the Wolves closed out the 69-57 victory.
McCollum led the way with a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double. Ford also had a solid outing with 16 points and five assists while Brown had 13 points of his own. Malakhi Stremlow contributed 11 rebounds to the win, helping the Wolves to a 37-28 advantage on the glass.