Upper West SC News

Wolves Win Fifth Straight, Edge the Saints 63-59

 A few massive runs for the Newberry College men's basketball team proved to be the difference in its fifth consecutive victory Wednesday night, this one coming in Limestone. Newberry (15-8, 8-5 SAC) currently occupies the No. 3 seed – and the playoff berth that comes with it – in the Piedmont Division, three games ahead of fourth place with five games to play.

Having traded buckets with Limestone (11-12, 6-7 SAC) over the first eight minutes of the game, the Wolves found themselves in an 11-11 tie. The Saints then took a 17-13 lead before a media timeout with 8:00 remaining, but it wouldn't last long.

A Robin Bedford (London, England) 3-pointer got the ball rolling on a monstrous 15-0 run that spanned five minutes, and two Bedford free throws regained the upper hand for the Wolves at 18-17 – a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the night. The run was eventually finished off by TJ Brown's (Columbia, S.C.) 3-pointer and a Malakhi Stremlow (Traverse City, Mich.) free throw with two minutes remaining in the half to give the Wolves an 11-point, 28-17 cushion.

The Saints were able to get four of those points back before halftime, but the Wolves still had a seven-point lead going into the break, 31-24.

Newberry quickly pushed its lead to 13 in the beginning of the second half thanks to six points from QuanDaveon McCollum (Clio, S.C.). A 10-3 Limestone run trimmed the Wolves' lead down to six just as fast, but little did the Saints know, Newberry had another big run in its back pocket.

This one came in the form of a 13-3 outburst that was started by Caleb Byrd's (Mauldin, SC) free throw and finished off by another Brown basket some four minutes later, handing the Wolves their biggest lead of the night: a 16-point, 56-40 margin with eight minutes on the clock.

In keeping with the theme of the second half however, the Saints brought the Wolves' lead down to seven with five minutes left. A prompt response from the Wolves elevated the lead back to 10, but the Saints made it a nail-biter down the stretch as they poured in eight straight points to make it a two-point ballgame with only 31 seconds to play, 61-59.

But much to the chagrin of Limestone, this Newberry bunch is one that simply won't break.

One free throw each for Andrew Robinson (Lexington, S.C.) and Stremlow made it certain the Wolves would not be denied.

Leading the balanced Newberry attack with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists was McCollum, his eighth double-double of the season. Stremlow added 13 points and 8 rebounds; Robinson was also in double figures with 11 points; Bedford had 9; Brown scored eight; and Malik Joseph (Eleuthera, Bahamas) put in seven. The Wolves cleaned up on the glass once again, holding the rebounding edge by six over the Saints, 38-32. 12 of those were offensive, leading to 19 second chance points – 12 more than Limestone had on the night. The Wolves' presence inside was also notable as they outscored the Saints 36-26 in the paint.

Richard Nunez had 19 points and seven boards before fouling out to pace the Saints while Isayah Owens had 16 points of his own.

Original source can be found here