HICKORY, N.C. – Newberry’s four-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday night against the best team in the conference, as Lenoir-Rhyne pulled away late with a 94-84 win at Shuford Gymnasium.  Lenoir-Rhyne retains at least a share of the South Atlantic Conference lead at 10-3, 21-6 overall.

Newberry drops to 11-14 and 5-8 and is currently in fifth place with one game left.

L-R scored the game’s first five points, but Newberry pulled even at 9-9 and led only once at 10-9 off a Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas) free throw.  From there, the Bears extended the lead to as many as 12 points with six minutes left.  The lead was trimmed to six on a three-point play by Sammy Monroe (Mt. Olive, N.C.) with 3:41 remaining, but L-R pushed the margin to 38-28 at the break.

Monroe and L-R’s Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) dueled in the first half, each reaching double figures before the break.  Monroe scored 11, while Springs had 13.

The home team had a 15-point lead at 59-44, but a 10-0 run capped by Zach Chandler’s (Greenville, S.C.) three-pointer brought the margin down to 63-59 at the second half media timeout.  L-R responded and brought the lead quickly to ten points, and Newberry was only able to get as close as eight with 1:59 remaining.

Leading the charge for Newberry was Monroe with 23 points, followed closely by Chandler with 19.  L-R was led by Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.), who had 30 points.

Newberry hosts Mars Hill Saturday at 4 p.m. on senior day.  Lenoir-Rhyne will host Tusculum in both team’s season finale, set to tip off at 8 p.m.