HARTSVILLE – Despite a valiant effort from the Coker Cobras (3-24, 1-19), the Newberry Wolves (10-17, 5-14) were able to ride a record-setting night from Angelo Sales Jr. to a 92-89 victory on the road.
 
The Wolves struggled to contain the Cobras on the offensive end in the opening half as Coker shot a blazing 52.9 percent from the floor as a team. Ladarius Williams led the Cobras early on, as he scored 14 points on 6-9 from the floor in the first half to lead all scorers.
 
At the halftime break, Sales Jr. led the Wolves with 12 points on 4-5 from the floor in the first half, connecting on both of his three-point attempts. He was the only player to put up double digits in the opening frame, but his day was far from over.
 
Coming back from the halftime break, the Wolves trailed 43-41 in a close game, and Sales Jr. began to go to work.
 
The junior guard knocked down a three-pointer just 18 seconds into the second half, sparking the best 20 minutes of basketball of Sales Jr.'s Newberry career.
 
Sales Jr. was effective inside and out, shooting 3-5 from the three-point line and getting to the charity stripe for 10 second-half free throws, knocking down nine of them. He also pulled down eight second-half rebounds to lead Newberry.
 
The Wolves clawed their way into a lead for the majority of the second half, and with an 81-75 lead and less than five minutes remaining, Sales Jr. continued to spearhead the Wolves offense. He scored five of Newberry's final 11 points, including two clutch free throws with 15 seconds remaining to give Newberry it's final three-point lead and the win.
 
When the final horn sounded, Sales Jr. had poured in a career-high 42 points along with 11 rebounds for the best double-double of his career, shooting 13-18 from the floor and 5-7 from long range. He also hit a career-high 11 free throws on 15 attempts.
 
His 42-point effort is the highest-scoring single-game output in the South Atlantic Conference this season, as well as moving him into the top-10 of the SAC's highest-scoring single games ever.
 
42 points is the 29th-best scoring effort in all of Division II this season, and earns Sales Jr. the highest-scoring single game in Newberry program history since at least the 1994-95 season.
 
The Wolves had two other players in double-digits on the night, with Marshall Lange filling up the stat sheet with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Luke Gibson scoring 12 points on 4-9 from the floor.
 
Newberry wound up outshooting the Cobras, converting on 51.6 percent of their attempts to Coker's 50.7 percent. The Wolves were also able to connect on 11 three-point bombs, shooting 39.3 percent from deep.
 
The win is Newberry's fifth conference victory of the season, wrapping up the road portion of their schedule. The Wolves will return home to Eleazer Arena for their Senior Night game against the Carson-Newman Eagles to close out the 2018-19 season on Saturday, March 2 at 4:00 pm.