Hickory, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball Team (11-10, 7-5) got back on track by downing Newberry (13-7, 7-5), 83-81, in a close contest Saturday evening in a South Atlantic Conference game at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.

L-R senior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) scored a season-high 21 points and senior guard Kevin Davis (Charlotte, N.C.) added 19 points as five players finished in double figures for the Bears in the win.

Newberry's Shamel Akins (Charlotte, N.C.) came off the bench to lead all scorers with 23 points and Matt Dixon (Elizabeth City, N.C.) added 14 points in the setback.

The game was extremely close throughout as the contest featured 24 ties and 20 lead changes.

Lenoir-Rhyne finally broke on top for good when Blackmon hit a pair of free throws with 2:47 remaining for a 75-74 lead.

Newberry cut the lead to one point on one more occasion when Akins hit a lay-up in the paint to cut the margin to 77-76 at the 2:04 mark of the second half but L-R stayed on top thanks to four free throws in the final 23 seconds of regulation.

Sophomore forward Allan Jones (Clemmons, N.C.) added 15 points for the Bears, who shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the field an avenging an earlier loss to the Wolves.

Newberry, which saw its five-game winning streak snapped, did shoot 89 percent (24-of-27) from the free throw line but only 29 percent (seven-of-24) from three-point land.

In the next round of South Atlantic Conference games on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m., Lenoir-Rhyne heads to Wingate while Newberry pays a visit to first-place Anderson.