CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
Charlotte, N.C. – The Newberry College Wolves (9-8, 9-6 SAC) fell to the No. 18 Queens Royals (17-3, 13-3 SAC) by a final score of 76-61 on Wednesday.
The Wolves would start off strong as Marcus Ford hit a three-pointer to give Newberry the early lead. Devario Sheppard and Malakhi Stremlow would then get in on the action to extend the Wolves’ lead to 11-4. However, the Royals proceeded to go on a 10-3 run of their own to tie the game before T.J. Brown hit a pair of free throws to keep the Wolves in front. After trading baskets, the Wolves would once again pull ahead, but Queens closed out the first half with a 15-3 run that would have the Wolves trailing by a score of 34-28 heading into the locker room.
Both teams started the second half out strong, going back and forth as QuanDaveon McCollum scored multiple clutch baskets to keep the Wolves within striking distance. However, despite key contributions from Sheppard and Malik Joseph, the Royals always seemed to have an answer. Queens would then use spurts of 10-2 and 7-2 to begin to pull away, evening the season series at 1-1.
Despite the loss, Ford had an impressive night scoring the ball with an efficient 16 points, shooting 6-8. McCollum also had a solid performance with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Sheppard finished with 8 points and Brown had 7 while both notched 3 rebounds. Meanwhile, Stremlow had 6 points and 4 rebounds of his own.
The Wolves will look to bounce back on Saturday, Jan. 29 when they travel to Jefferson City, Tenn. to take on the Carson-Newman Eagles with tip-off scheduled for 4 p.m.