Second-half surge sends Men's Basketball to three-way tie for SAC lead

Salisbury, N.C. – The Catawba College Men's Basketball team won their fourth straight game and 10th of last 11 on Wednesday night, riding a balanced offensive effort to an 85-76 win over the Newberry Wolves to move to a three-way tie for first place in the South Atlantic Conference at 15-4 in league play.

TEAM STATS 

- Catawba connected on 10 more attempts from the field, going 36-64 compared to Newberry making 26-48 attempts. The Wolves were much better from deep, however, going 12-23 to Catawba's 5-17 mark 

- Catawba pulled down five more rebounds, 30-25 

- Catawba won the turnover battle, forcing 21 turnovers while giving it away just 12 times themselves. This translated to a 22-11 advantage in points off of turnovers 

- Catawba also dominated Newberry in two crucial areas; points in the paint and bench points. Inside the paint, Catawba players racked up 54 points compared to just 22 from Newberry. Meanwhile, Catawba's reserves outscored their counterparts from Newberry by a margin of 41-16 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 

- Kaleb Wallace led Catawba with 16 points off the bench on an efficient 6-10 night, including a 2-4 mark from deep. Javeon Jones tallied 15 points on 6-9, and Justin Banks (13), DeAngelo Epps (11) and Shad Thomas(10) all went 5-7 from the floor 

- Jones hauled in six rebounds, one away from tying for the game-high. Banks added five, while Dre Nelsonand Wallace both added four  

- Montraivis White dished out a game-high seven assists, with Nelson and Jones each adding two  

- Defensively, each of Jones, O'Mazeon Tinsley, and Banks racked up three steals, with Nelson and Thomas both notching two apiece  

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST HALF 

- Newberry was the hot team early, converting all four of their first shots to take a 9-2 run in the first 2:18 of play. Drake Downs would score four and Malik Joseph provided the other five, before Tinsley and Jones answered with four points for Catawba to make it 6-9 with 15:50 to go  

- An 8-3 Catawba run, led by four points from Wallace, would knot the game up at 14-14 with 11:53 left in the first half as Catawba gained their first lead of the game 

- The home side wouldn't relinquish the lead the rest of the opening half, as a slam from Wallace and triple from Nelson capped off a 13-4 Catawba run. Caleb Byrne drained a pair of free throws for Newberry to cut the lead to one at the 9:30 mark, 18-19, and that would be the closest that the Wolves got to regaining the advantage in the first half 

- Catawba scored the only four points of the next 3:45 minutes through Tinsley and Epps, which would spark a 14-9 run over the final 9:30 of the half. Epps and Wallace would both splash efforts from beyond the arc, with Wallace leading all scorers at the break with 11 as Catawba headed into the half holding a 33-27 lead  

SECOND HALF 

- After Thomas opened the second half with a slam just 21 seconds in, Newberry would splash three straight triples courtesy of a pair from Lovorn James and another from Jalen Johnson in just over a minute. The barrage from beyond the arc pulled the Wolves to within one after just 1:54 of play in the second half, 36-37 

- Caleb Byrd and Kris Robinsontraded jumpers before another triple from Johnson, the fourth in four minutes from Newberry, gave them their first lead since 11:53 to go in the first half. Shortly after the Wolves pulled ahead, 41-39 at the 16:32 mark, Epps would tie the game back up  

- A Banks layup with 15:01 to go started an 8-3 Catawba run, only blemished by yet another three-pointer from Johnson as the home side took a 50-46 lead 

- After Byrd pulled Newberry back to within two with 13:16 to go, White scored five of the next seven points as Catawba pulled ahead on a 7-2 run, opening up a 57-50 lead at the 11:22 mark capped off by a White triple 

- Newberry had an answer through Devario Sheppard, who went on a tear for the Wolves to keep the game close. Sheppard scored Newberry's next eight points as the visiting side closed the game to three, 58-61, with 8:05 to go 

- Wallace and Thomas continued to deliver for Catawba, with the two connecting on several shots to keep Catawba ahead before leading a 7-2 run after Sheppard's make at 8:05 to give the home side some breathing room in the form of a 68-60 lead with 6:53 on the clock  

- That 7-2 run, which began with a Thomas slam at the 7:59 mark, would ignite into a 16-2 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes as Catawba blew the game wide open. Thomas was joined offensively by Jones and Epps as Catawba locked things down defensively while surging ahead offensively, taking a commanding 77-60 lead with 3:44 left in the game 

- Sheppard and Byrd led Newberry on a 13-2 run over the next three minutes, with Byrd canning a trio of threes, but it would be a case of too little, too late.  Four points from Jones were enough keep Catawba ahead by eight, 81-73, even as Byrd connected from deep for the third time with :28 seconds left 

- Another two points from Jones at the free throw line, and a dunk from Epps in the closing seconds, would put the exclamation point on an 85-76 victory for Catawba on the night  

UP NEXT 

- Catawba hosts Emory & Henry on Saturday at 4 p.m., claiming at least a share of the SAC regular season crown with a victory