NEWBERRY – On Senior Day in Eleazer Arena, the Newberry College men's basketball team prevailed in a tight battle over Lincoln Memorial, 71-68.

Caleb Byrd had a career-high 19 points to lead Newberry (7-16, 6-12 SAC), making 4 of 6 3-pointers and nailing all seven of his free throws.

Devario Sheppard had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Wolves, and senior Jalen Johnson and Malik Joseph both chipped in 10 points to give Newberry four in double-figures.

The game was tight early with the Wolves holding on to a narrow 17-16 lead 10 minutes into the first half. Lincoln Memorial (19-7, 13-4) scored the next 11 points to gain a 10-point,
27-17 lead with 5:02 left.

Newberry scored 10 of the last 14 points of the half – the last three coming on a trey from Johnson – to get within 31-27 at halftime.

Byrd got the Wolves off and running to open the second half, drilling a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to one. The Railsplitters maintained their narrow advantage until Sheppard's jumper tied it at 41 with 12:28 to go in the game.

LMU restored a five-point lead, 50-45, three minutes later before back-to-back 3s from Sheppard and James Lovorn gave the Wolves a 51-50 lead. The game was tied at 53, 55, 57 and 60, and Lincoln Memorial went up 64-60 with 1:32 to go.

Byrd was fouled from 3-point range and made all three attempts to get the Wolves back within a point 13 seconds later. A pair of free throws made it 66-63 LMU with a minute to go, and after a Sheppard jumper and two Joseph makes from the charity stripe, Newberry retook a 67-66 lead with 28 ticks left.

Joseph buried two more from the line to make it 69-66 Wolves with 15 seconds to go, but the Railsplitters converted a pair of their own to bring it back within a point with just eight seconds remaining.

Two more free throws from Byrd a second later staked the Wolves to a three-point lead, and following a pair of misses from Sheppard with one second left, Lincoln Memorial narrowly missed a full-court heave at the buzzer and the Wolves got the Senior Day win.

Looking at the stat sheet, Newberry outrebounded the visitors 31-28 and corralled nine steals. The Wolves also had 18 fastbreak points and had an efficient night at the free-throw line, going 19 for 22 (86.4%).

Newberry hits the road to play Catawba on Wednesday (Feb. 28). Tipoff in Salisbury, North Carolina, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.