Hickory, N.C. - The Newberry College Wolves (6-6, 6-4 SAC) used a Christmas miracle of a second half to erase a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (3-8, 2-6 SAC) by a final score of 66-65 on Monday behind big nights from TJ Brown and Malakhi Stremlow.
The Bears started off hot, jumping out to an early 15-0 lead. The Wolves fought back with key buckets from Brown, Stremlow, and QuanDaveon McCollum, but the Bears kept pressing their attack, leading by as many as 22 points in the first half. Things were not looking well for the Wolves as they would go into the halftime break down 22-39, but they would not go down so easily.
The Wolves came out swinging in the second half with early baskets from Jalen Johnson and Marcus Ford. It would soon become clear that Newberry was here to play as they followed it up with a 17-2 run to cut the lead to three points with Brown getting hot and contributing 11 of those points during the run. The Bears would start to respond, but Brown and Stremlow were there to answer back, keeping the Wolves within striking distance, and that is exactly what they would do. Sherman Robinson would make himself known as he scored four straight points to tie the game up at 57-57, and at long last, with a little over four minutes remaining in the game, Ford would hit a three-pointer to hand Newberry its first lead of the ballgame. Both teams would trade clutch basket after clutch basket, but the Wolves would never allow the Bears to retake the lead as they completed the comeback, taking down Lenoir-Rhyne 66-65 after an impressive second half in which Newberry outscored the Bears 44-26.
Stremlow led the way with 20 points and 5 rebounds with Brown not far behind with 19 points of his own. Ford and Robinson would each have 8 points with Robinson also leading the team in rebounds with 7. Meanwhile, Johnson had 5 points, Robin Bedford had 4, and McCollum had 2 to round out the scoring column.
The Wolves return to action on New Year's Eve when they host a non-conference matchup against Fayetteville State at 2 p.m. in Eleazer Arena.
