NEWBERRY — Sawyer Williams scored a game-high 33 points as visiting Carson-Newman (5-3, 2-0 SAC) shot 67 percent from the floor and the Eagles defeated the Newberry College men’s basketball team (5-3, 1-2 SAC), 88-62, on Saturday afternoon at Eleazer Arena.
Mason Spease led Newberry with a season-high 22 points. Marshall Lange scored 18 points and D.J. Copeland chipped in 13. Newberry scored 30 points off 27 Carson-Newman turnovers. The Wolves also scored 42 points in the paint and recorded 40 bench points.
Newberry sprinted out to a 6-2 lead early, thanks to a Lange three-point basket. The two teams traded buckets back-and-forth as Spease’s jumper tied the contest at 32-32 halfway through the first half.
Newberry used an 8-2 run to extend a 40-32 advantage, the Wolves’ largest lead of the contest. Carson-Newman answered right back with a 10-0 run, taking a 42-40 lead with five minutes left in the first. The Eagles led 58-53 at halftime. Spease paced Newberry with 14 points.
Gerald Evans knocked down a three-point bucket with 18:13 remaining in the second half, but Newberry could not get any closer the rest of the way. The Eagles made 16 straight field goals over nine and a half minutes of play. Carson-Newman had its largest lead of the game of 29 points with 1:18 left on the clock.
Newberry ended the contest shooting 42.9 percent (33-for-77), but Carson-Newman shot 67.6 percent (48-for-71) from the field, including 92.9 percent (13-for-14) from the free-throw line.
Shawn Jones tied a South Atlantic Conference record after going 12-for-12 from the floor, scoring 24 points. Williams scored a game-high 33 points and notched a double-double after grabbing 10 rebounds. Charles Clark recorded 26 points and dished out six assists.
The Wolves will have off until next Saturday when they travel to Anderson to take on the Trojans of Anderson University (3-5, 1-1 SAC). Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.