SALISBURY, N.C. - The Newberry Wolves men's basketball team saw their season come to an end Wednesday night in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals as they lost to Catawba 89-87. The Wolves finish the year with a record of 14-15.

The game started off well for Newberry as Angelo Sales, Jr. drew a foul and converted both free throws. TJ Brown then scored on a drive to make the score 4-0. Ben Zemonek scored for Catawba, but Luke Gibson hit a three pointer for a five point lead. Marcell Haskett then converted two three pointers, Terrence Whitfield scored, and Devin Cooper made a three pointer to give the Indians a six point lead. 

Sales, Jr. scored to cut the lead to four, but Malik Constantine brought it back to six. Sales, Jr. attacked the paint and drew a foul once again, converting both free throws to make the score 15-11. A Constantine three pointer widened the lead, but Gibson hit a jumper. Larry McLeod then made a jumper for the Indians to give them a seven point lead. Gibson then made consecutive three pointers around a made jumper by Haskett, but Constantine scored again. Marcus Ford then got into the scoring column to cut the lead to 24-21.

After a couple minutes went by with no scoring, Jalen Johnson made a three pointer to tie the game; he then made a layup to give the Wolves the lead. Cooper then tied the score with a layup before Haskett made another jumper to retake the lead. A Daquan Lilly layup extended the lead to four, but Marshall Lange made a layup to make it a one possession game. Lange then hit a jumper to tie the score, but Haskett made a three pointer. Gibson made a jumper of his own, but Constantine brought the lead back out to three.

Two Constantine free throws extended the lead to five before Terrence Whitfield made a three pointer to extend the lead to eight. Haskett then hit yet another jumper to give Catawba a 42-32 lead. Johnson and Gibson scored for the Wolves before the break to make the score 44-36.

Constantine made the first basket of the second half to give the Indians a ten point lead, but Gibson made a jumper. Haskett then made a layup, but Brown matched him. Haskett made another jumper, but Brown made a three pointer to cut the lead to seven. Haskett then hit two more three pointers to give Catawba a 13 point lead, but Brown hit another three pointer to make it 56-46.

Haskett made a three pointer, but QuanDaveon McCollum made a layup to cut the lead to 11. Gibson then made a jumper to make it a single digit margin, but Cooper scored. Brown then converted an and-one to make the score 61-53 with 14 minutes left in the game. Lilly made a layup, but Sikander Nielsen and Brown hit consecutive three pointers to slash the lead to four.

McCollum then cut the lead to two, but McLeod scored to make it 65-61. Haskett scored, but Ford made a three pointer. Lilly and McLeod combined for six points to extend the lead back out, but Lange scored to cut into the lead. Zemonek made a jumper, but Gibson matched him with a jumper. Zaqwuan Matthews scored, but Lange and McCollum made back to back baskets to cut the lead to five.

Three straight Catawba possessions extended the lead out to 11, but the Wolves refused to quit. Lange and Whitfield traded layups before Ford hit consecutive three pointer to make it 85-80. Five more points by Ford tied the game before Constantine hit a jumper. Gibson tied the score at 87, but the Indians pushed the ball to Haskett and he made the game winner with one second left to hand Newberry a crushing defeat.

Gibson led the Wolves with a career high 23 points on ten made field goals, while Ford and Brown joined him in double figures with 16. Sales, Jr., the South Atlantic Conference leader in rebounds per contest, pulled in nine boards to lead the team.