GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – For the first time in four weeks, the Newberry men's basketball team did not emerge victorious on Saturday afternoon as it dropped a hotly-contested matchup to host Tusculum.

Newberry (17-9, 10-6 South Atlantic Conference) is nevertheless locked into the SAC Playoffs, and plays a critical game against Wingate this upcoming week that will determine the No. 2 seed in the Piedmont Division.

As for Saturday, the Wolves' offense was firing on all cylinders in the first half, as they connected on 55.6% of their 3-point attempts (5-9), and nearly half of their shots from the floor (16-33). They also nailed all seven of their free throw attempts in the first half.

As is customary for the Wolves and their opponents, this one was a back and forth affair with Tusculum (13-10, 9-7 SAC). The largest lead for either team over the game's first 20 minutes was Newberry's six-point lead, which they first held at 38-32 after Malakhi Stremlow (Traverse City, Mich.) stole a pass and found QuanDaveon McCollum (Clio, S.C.) for a jumper. The Wolves also led by six at the intermission, 44-38.

Drake Downs (Simpsonville, SC) was the Wolves' leading scorer at the break with 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting and five free throws. McCollum had eight points at the half, while Andrew Robinson (Lexington, S.C.) and Malik Joseph (Eleuthera, Bahamas) each drilled two 3-pointers to put six points on the board.

Early in the second half, the Pioneers trimmed the Wolves' lead down to a single point at 44-43, though Newberry just as rapidly built the lead back to five after buckets from Joseph and McCollum. After two 3-pointers and a layup by Tusculum, the Pioneers found themselves back in the lead (51-50) for the first time since they were up 27-26 with eight minutes to play in the first half.

Stremlow answered with a layup around the 13-minute mark to put Newberry back up a score, but another Tusculum 3-ball gave them a 54-52 lead, and the Pioneers used that as a launching pad for a 12-2 run to go up 63-54 with nine minutes left.

The Wolves didn't go away easily, though, as they blitzed the Pioneers with an 8-0 run to pull within one after two Robinson 3's with a Stremlow jumper sandwiched between.

Six straight Tusculum points ultimately put the game out of reach (69-62) as Newberry never got closer than four the rest of the way, and the Pioneers scored the final seven points of the evening for their 11-point margin of victory.

The second half was indeed the difference in the game, as the Wolves' shooting dipped to 30% in the half (9 of 30), including 3 of 12 from 3-point range. Conversely, the Pioneers heated up even more in the second half, making 14 of 23 shots (60.9%), while making 5 of 7 3-pointers (71.4%).

Newberry had a well-balanced attack on Saturday with four players scoring 11 points or more, including Downs (13), Robinson (12), McCollum (12) and Joseph (11). Stremlow was the team's leading rebound-getter, securing seven on the day, followed closely by Downs and McCollum who each grabbed six.

Newberry will return to Eleazer Arena for the aforementioned game with the Wingate Bulldogs at 7:30 on Wednesday night.