NEWBERRY – Playing host for the first time in two weeks, the Newberry College men's basketball team lost a heartbreaker on Wednesday night in Eleazer Arena as Catawba sank a buzzer-beater for a 69-68 win.

Drake Downs' career-high 22-point outing led the Wolves' scoring output. Downs paired that with a career-best 14 rebounds for his first career double-double.

Caleb Byrd added 13 points and five rebounds for Newberry (5-14, 4-10 South Atlantic Conference), and Malik Joseph scored nine and grabbed six boards.

Catawba (13-4, 10-3) scored the game's first 10 points over the opening 2 minutes and 30 seconds of action. The Wolves showed some resolve over the next four minutes, cutting the deficit to one via a 12-3 run.

The Indians restored a nine-point lead, 22-13, with 8:24 left in the half before the Scarlet and Gray went on another run to bring them within 24-22 three minutes later.

Newberry tied it at 28 before Catawba took a 39-31 advantage into the second half.

Catawba extended its lead slightly to nine points by the first media timeout of the closing half, the score reading 51-42 with 15:38 remaining in the game.

Their lead reached a game-high 11 points before the Wolves scored seven straight to narrow the gap to 55-51; Joseph scored five points during the run.

James Lovorn's 3-pointer and Downs' fastbreak slam with 5:32 to go made it 61-59 Indians and forced them to call timeout. A pair of Downs free throws evened the game at 64 with 2:56 left – the first time the Wolves tied it since it was 28-all in the first half.

Downs tied it again at 66 and a layup from Jalen Johnson put the Wolves ahead 68-66 for their first lead of the night with 47 ticks left.

Catawba made one of two from the free-throw line with 30 seconds left and snared an offensive rebound on the miss. They missed a 3-point attempt with 10 seconds left, and Lovorn got the board and was immediately fouled.

Lovorn missed both attempts at the line and the Indians secured the rebound and got one final shot off from the left wing and made it as time expired.

For the game, the Wolves outrebounded the visitors 43-37; 16 came on the offensive glass and led to 15 second-chance points. Newberry outscored Catawba 34-30 in the paint and the bench outscored the opponent for the third consecutive game, this time 35-31. Defensively, the Wolves had a season-best 10 steals.

Newberry has a week off before its next game on Wednesday, Feb. 14. The Wolves head to Wingate for the Valentine's Day clash at 7:30 p.m. in North Carolina.