Wednesday, January 23, 2008

NEWBERRY USES STRONG FIRST HALF IN 74-62 WIN OVER TUSCULUM

NEWBERRY, S.C. --- Three Newberry College players recorded 14 points each as the Indians defeated visiting Tusculum College 74-62 Wednesday night in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action.

Newberry (7-9, 2-4 SAC) jumped out early and took a 46-20 lead into the locker room. Tusculum would trail by as many as 31 in the second half, before putting together a late charge.

Tusculum’s Jordan Lear led all scorers with 23 points and 12 boards, including his 500^th-rebound of his career. Lavonti Jeter and Ryan Troutman finished with eight points each for the Pioneers (8-9, 2-3 SAC). Troutman also dished out a game-high six assists in the loss.

Clemente Martin, Vytautas Valiulis and Grant Domsic tallied 14 points each for the Indians.

With Newberry leading 9-8 three minutes into the game, the Tribe scored 13 unanswered points over the next six minutes, capped off by a three-pointer by Valiulis at the 12:08 mark. The Indians used 9-0 spurt later in the period and would eventually lead 46-20 at the intermission.

Newberry would take its largest lead of the evening at 65-34 with 7:56 remaining in the game. The Pioneer mounted a strong second half charge as TC closed out the final two minutes with a 12-2 run to cut the deficit to 73-62, including three-pointers by Lear and fellow senior Emory Cain.

Newberry shot 50 percent from the floor, including 16-of-30 in the first half, while Tusculum finished shooting 39.1 percent, including 6-of-24 in the first 20 minutes.

The Pioneers out-rebounded the Indians by a 35-30 margin, including 12-9 on the offensive boards.

Tusculum returns to action Saturday when TC travels to Wingate University for a 4 p.m. contest at Cuddy Arena.

- TC -