NEWBERRY - Behind career efforts from TJ Brown and QuanDaveon McCollum, the Newberry Wolves men's basketball team improved to 10-6 (6-4 SAC) on the season with an 80-63 home victory over Carson-Newman. The ten wins matches last season's win total.

Brown got the Wolves off to a great start as he hit a three pointer, but an and-one by Luke Brenegan tied the score quickly. Marshall Lange then scored six consecutive points to widen out the lead before EJ Bush knocked down the first three pointer of the game for the visitors to cut the lead in half. McCollum and Brown combined for five more points to extend the lead out to eight points just four minutes into the game. 

A Tripp Davis three pointer then slashed the lead to five; the Wolves went on a 6-0 run a short time later via two buckets from McCollum and one from Brown. The teams battled back and forth for a few minutes before Marcus Ford scored five straight points to give Newberry a 32-16 lead with just under ten minutes to play until halftime. After a Bush layup, Brown converted a banked-in four point play, drawing a loud response from the bench and crowd. 

Brown and Ford then combined to score ten consecutive points for the Wolves to end the half, highlighted by a Brown floater right over the top of two Carson-Newman defenders that made it 48-28 at the half.

The second half saw the Wolves get off to a slow start, but Brown hit a deep three pointer in front of the bench to keep the lead at 19 points. A short time a later, a jumper by Lange, two free throws from Brown, and four points by Ford gave Newberry their largest lead of the game to that point. Neither team scored for a couple of minutes before McCollum made consecutive baskets to give the Wolves a 63-36 lead with less than 12 minutes to play.

Carson-Newman continued to battle throughout, but five consecutive points by Angelo Sales, Jr. gave the home team a 70-40 lead with less than eight minutes to play, essentially wrapping up the contest. The last few minutes of the game provided a few highlights as Luke Gibson faked a defender nearly out of this shoes with a turnaround jumper, Tai Giger made his second three pointer of the season, and Robin Bedford hit a free throw. The Eagles scored their last seven points of the game on free throws to cut the margin to a respectable 17 points.

Brown had already surpassed his previous career high point total by halftime and finished with 26 points, hitting five three pointers. McCollum came close to matching his career high in points with 19, but his 15 rebounds were one above his effort earlier this season against Piedmont International. Ford also joined them in double figures with 14 points. Normally a sharpshooter, the 5-10 guard made just one three pointer but was successful attacking the basket all day long.

The Wolves will look to continue their winning streak as they travel to Coker this coming Wednesday.