TJ Brown had 13 points in the Wolves 80-55 win over Mars Hill.
NEWBERRY — The Newberry College men’s basketball team (12-11, 12-9 SAC) came away with a dominant 80-55 victory over the Lions of Mars Hill (5-17, 5-14 SAC), Feb. 14.
The Lions struck first, getting off to an early 7-2 lead, but TJ Brown (Columbia) responded by scoring seven straight points by himself. The Wolves then pushed ahead with a 9-0 run, capped off with a three-pointer from Brown. The Lions cut the lead back down to four, but a pair of threes from Marcus Ford (Eatonton, Ga.) and Malik Joseph (Eleuthera, Bahamas) kept the momentum firmly in the hands of the Wolves. Devario Sheppard (Columbia) got into the action as he capped off an 8-0 Newberry run with a fast-break dunk, pushing the Wolves’ lead to 11 going into halftime.
The Wolves did not take their foot off the gas in the second half, sending a message with an impressive 21-1 run that was capped off with a three-pointer from Jalen Johnson. The Lions tried to crawl back into the game, but the Wolves won 80-55.
“It was an opportunity for some of these guys to get better and work on some things,” said Head Coach Jason Taylor. “We had guys playing a lot of minutes that they don’t normally play. The guys have to perform when their number is called no matter what the score is.”
The Wolves placed five players in double-figures in the victory, led by Brown who had 13 points and five rebounds. Ford was right behind him with 12 points of his own and an impressive block for the 5’10” guard from Eatonton, Ga. QuanDaveon McCollum (Clio) had 10 points and six rebounds on the night with Sheppard having an equally solid outing with 10 points and five rebounds of his own. Joseph also had 10 points. Meanwhile, Malakhi Stremlow (Traverse City, Mich.) and Robin Bedford (London, England) would each have seven points with Stremlow grabbing seven rebounds and Bedford picking up four assists.