MATTHEWS, N.C. – After winning the first South Atlantic Conference Tournament game in program history earlier this week, the Newberry men's lacrosse (11-5) team's run came to an end at the hands of No. 2 seed Lenoir-Rhyne (13-2) Saturday night in the semifinals, 17-8.

Senior Scott Reed (Ontario, Canada) and Shane Halliwell (Cambridge, Ontario, Canada) both paced Newberry with hat tricks. It was the seventh three-plus goal game for Reed this season, and the first of Halliwell's collegiate career.

Junior Jimmy Osorio (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) and faceoff specialist Connor Bates (Boiling Springs, S.C.) had the other two Wolves goals.

Lenoir-Rhyne found the back of the net first in the game's first two minutes, followed by a second goal before the 10-minute mark. The Bears added another pair over the remainder of the opening quarter to take a 4-0 lead into the second.

Reed got the Wolves on the board two minutes into the second quarter off a nifty pass from Halliwell to trim the deficit to 4-1.

The Bears responded with two more goals to make it a five-goal lead before Halliwell switched roles, scoring himself this time off an Adrian Channell (Ontario, Canada) pass.
Lenoir-Rhyne added two more scores before the break to make it 8-2 after one half of play.

LR started the second-half-scoring with a goal at the 12:34 mark. Reed and Halliwell then scored less than a minute apart to cut into the Bears' lead, making it 9-4.
The teams traded the next two goals before the Bears scored three straight to close the third quarter, taking a 13-5 lead into the fourth.

Two more Bears goals pushed their advantage to 10 with 10:13 left in the game, though Halliwell was able to narrow the margin back to single digits with his third of the night. That play was directly followed by Bates' face off win and subsequent goal for his eighth of the season to bring the score to 15-7.

Lenoir-Rhyne got both of those goals back before Osorio closed the scoring with a goal with just over six minutes to play.

The battle was a testy one that featured 12 penalties and a 15-all tie in faceoffs.

Newberry finishes the 2023 campaign with a program-best 11 wins and a program-high winning percentage against SAC competition (.667).