Newberry, S.C. - The Newberry College men's basketball team (12-11, 12-9 SAC) came away with a dominant 80-55 victory over the Lions of Mars Hill (5-17, 5-14 SAC), avenging a one-point loss to the Lions back in November.

The Lions would strike first, getting off to an early 7-2 lead, but TJ Brown (Columbia, S.C.) responded by scoring seven-straight points by himself. The Wolves would then push out ahead with a 9-0 run that was capped off with a three-pointer from Brown. The Lions would cut the lead back down to four, but a pair of threes from Marcus Ford (Eatonton, Ga.) and Malik Joseph (Eleuthera, Bahamas) kept the momentum firmly in the hands of the Wolves. Devario Sheppard (Columbia, S.C.) would then get into the action as he capped off an 8-0 Newberry run with a fast-break dunk, pushing the Wolves' lead out to 11 going into halftime.

The Wolves would not take their feet off the gas in the second half, sending a message by starting the half with an impressive 21-1 run that was capped off with a three-pointer from Jalen Johnson. The Lions would scrap for any way they could find to halt Newberry's momentum, but Luke Seals (Ponca City, Okla.) hit a three-pointer to continue the attack, doubling up the score at 70-35. The Lions would try to crawl back into the game, but Johnson was able to save an offensive rebound while falling out of bounds and find Jonathan Wright who scored his first field goal of the season to ignite both the Newberry bench and the crowd as the Wolves won 80-55.

"It was an opportunity for some of these guys to get better and work on some things," said head coach Jason Taylor. "We had guys playing a lot of minutes that they don't normally play. The guys have to perform when their number is called no matter what the score is." 

The Wolves placed five players in double-figures in the victory, led by Brown who had 13 points and 5 rebounds. Ford was right behind him with 12 points of his own and an impressive block for the 5-10 guard from Eatonton, Ga. QuanDaveon McCollum (Clio, S.C.) had 10 points and 6 rebounds on the night with Sheppard having an equally solid outing with 10 points and 5 rebounds of his own. Joseph would also have ten points. Meanwhile, Malakhi Stremlow (Traverse City Mich.) and Robin Bedford (London, England) would each have 7 points with Stremlow grabbing 7 rebounds and Bedford picking up 4 assists. 

The Wolves return to action after another short turnaround on Wednesday, Feb. 16 when they host Catawba in Eleazer Arena with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.