Garry Talbert
NEWBERRY — A career-high 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting for Andrew Robinson (Lexington) led the Newberry College men’s basketball team to victory last Wednesday in front of the home faithful at Eleazer Arena.
QuanDaveon McCollum (Clio) had another double-double – his 11th of the season – going for 17 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Caleb Byrd (Mauldin) had 14 points, and Malakhi Stremlow (Traverse City, Mich.) just missed out on his sixth double-double of the year with 13 points and nine rebounds.
With the win, Newberry (18-9, 11-6 South Atlantic Conference) will host a SAC Playoff game on Wednesday, March 1.
For the first 10 minutes of the game, Newberry and Wingate (15-11, 10-7 SAC) were very evenly matched, with neither team’s lead growing larger than four – and the teams were tied at 18 halfway through the first half.
That’s when the Wolves’ offense kicked it into high-gear: Drake Downs’ (Simpsonville) layup at the nine-minute mark sparked a 20-2 Newberry run that included seven points from Stremlow, five points from Robinson, four from Downs, and two apiece from Byrd and McCollum; the Newberry advantage at the conclusion of the run was 38-20.
Wingate scored eight of the final 12 points of the first half to trim the Wolves’ lead, but Newberry still had a 14-point cushion heading into the second half, 42-28.
The Wolves were able to maintain their double-digit lead over the first portion of the second half as they held a 55-44 advantage with over 12 minutes to play. One of Robinson’s seven 3-pointers on the night, coupled with a fastbreak slam from Byrd, pushed that advantage to 14 (60-46) with 11:37 remaining.
Consecutive Wingate 3s brought the Newberry lead down to eight, but the Wolves later increased their edge to 14 again after Malik Joseph (Eleuthera, Bahamas) stole the ball and found TJ Brown (Columbia) for a thunderous fastbreak dunk to make it 70-56 with just under eight minutes left.
The Bulldogs, however, nailed three 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to score 11 straight points and cut the Wolves’ lead down to just three with six minutes on the clock.
Stremlow then hit two free throws to give the Wolves a little bit of breathing room, only for Wingate to hit another 3 to bring the Newberry advantage to 72-70. Layups by McCollum and Joseph, followed by two Byrd free throws, again gave the Wolves some space as they led 78-72 with less than four minutes to go.
That lead shrunk slightly to 81-77 by the two-minute mark, but the Wolves buckled down and took care of the ball down the stretch while hitting 10 free throws over the last two minutes to seal the deal with a 91-82 final margin of victory.
Jarren Cottingham paced the Bulldogs with 20 points, and Andreas Wilson added 18.
The Wolves enjoyed a 40-31 rebounding edge – including 13 offensive rebounds – allowing them to dominate the second chance points category, 24-6. The inside presence for Newberry also translated to a 44-24 scoring advantage in the paint.