NEWBERRY – In front of a packed crowd in Eleazer Arena Saturday afternoon, the Newberry College men's basketball team pulled out a gritty 57-52 win over UVA Wise.

Caleb Byrd led Newberry (6-15, 5-11 SAC) in scoring with 12 points, and he paired that with six rebounds and a pair of steals.

James Lovorn had 10 points and Devario Sheppard chipped in eight with five rebounds. Drake Downs pulled down a team-best 10 boards and Jalen Johnson snared eight.

The Wolves jumped out to an 8-0 lead by the game's first timeout five minutes in.

UVA Wise (10-14, 6-10 SAC) scored seven of the next nine points to bring the Wolves' lead to 10-7 with 12:13 left in the opening half.

A pair of Bobby Taylor buckets and two free throws each from Malik Joseph and Downs made it 18-7 Wolves just over two minutes later. Newberry pushed its lead to a game-high 12, 22-10, with seven minutes left.

The Cavaliers steadily ate into that lead and brought themselves within 26-25 five minutes later, taking a 27-26 lead before Downs' slam prior to halftime gave the Wolves a one-point lead at the break.

Similar to the start of the game, the Wolves started the closing 20 minutes with a 9-2 run to grab an eight-point lead with 14:45 remaining in the defensive battle. UVA Wise soon evened things back up at 37 apiece three minutes later.

Newberry found themselves down five with 5:38 to go, 47-42, when Byrd buried a jumper and Sheppard's lay-in cut the deficit to one with 3:14 remaining.

Wise once again restored a five-point lead after a pair of free throws with 1:40 left, but the Wolves were not to be denied. Back-to-back 3s from Lovorn and Johnson – on a fortuitous bounce – gave the Wolves their first lead since 39-37 with 50 seconds to play, 53-52.

Lovorn and Byrd both sank a pair of free throws down the stretch to seal the deal for the Scarlet and Gray as they scored the final 10 points of the game.

The Wolves crashed the glass and outrebounded the visitors 43-36. In addition, they outscored the Cavs 24-14 in the paint, and the Newberry bench scored 22 points to UVA Wise's 15.

Newberry returns to Eleazer Arena on Wednesday (Feb. 21) for a matchup with the Anderson Trojans. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.