NEWBERRY – A surge in the middle of the second half blew open a close game Wednesday, as the Newberry Wolves picked up their fourth straight win with a 93-81 victory over visiting Catawba College.

With the win, the Wolves move to 15-8 overall and 10-7 in the South Atlantic Conference entering a road game at No. 4 Lincoln Memorial this Saturday. Catawba falls to 10-13 overall and 8-9 in conference play.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Newberry had five players score in double figures, led by 14 points from Xavier Holmes. He also added six rebounds and four blocks.
• The trio of D.J. Copeland, Mitch Riggs and James Stepp scored 13 points apiece. Stepp added five rebounds to his tally, while Riggs and Copeland each snagged four boards.
• Brandon Taylor scored 12 points with a game-high seven rebounds.
• Gerald Evans had nine points, seven assists, three stals and two rebounds to only two turnovers. Ronell Crockett also added nine points.
• Newberry shot 44.9% for the contest, with a distinct difference in the two halves.
  • The Wolves led 44-40 at the half after shooting 37.8% from the field.
  • Newberry bumped its rate up to 53.1% in the second half to pull away.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Catawba started the night shooting far better than the Wolves in the opening five minutes. The guests led 11-6 at the 15:28 mark after a 6-0 run. They would push that lead to as many as seven before the Wolves reversed their fortunes.

A 13-4 Newberry run put the Wolves back on top after a triple and a fastbreak layup by Copeland made it 23-21 at the 6:28 mark. A Mason Spease three-pointer at the 1:42 mark gave Newberry its largest lead of the half at 41-34 but Catawba would chop that down to a single point in the final minute before a Taylor three made it a 44-40 halftime lead.

It took five almost five minutes into the second half for the Wolves to truly pull away, but Riggs and Crockett made sure the surge was a large one. Newberry led 57-51 with 15:32 to go in the game. Crockett hit a free throw and a layup before a Riggs personal 7-0 run. His free throws at the 13:29 mark put Newberry up 67-51.

The visitors battled for the rest of the night, but could only get the margin back down to single digits for a few seconds. Newberry's largest lead of the night came at the 9:37 mark when Holmes threw down a thunderous dunk on the alley-oop pass from Evans.