NEWBERRY, S.C. – Seniors Darius Simmons and R.J. Gunn combined for 62 points as the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball Team topped Newberry 81-70 in the Quarterfinal of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. The Bears snapped a 12-game losing streak at Newberry in the process.

GAME INFORMATION:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 81, Newberry 70
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (9-6, 8-6 SAC) | Newberry (9-6, 9-5 SAC)
Location: Eleazer Arena

STATS AND INFO:
- All five of the SAC Tournament matchups between LR and Newberry have been a 4-seed vs a 5-seed as was the case in this one
- Lenoir-Rhyne is 26-22 all-time in South Atlantic Conference Tournament history
- The Bears were 0-4 all-time against Newberry in the SAC Tournament before tonight's win
- The Bears have lost 12 straight games at Eleazer Arena and haven't won in Newberry since 2009
- Lenoir-Rhyne hit a season-high 13 threes on the night and shot a season-best 44.8 percent from long range

FIRST HALF:
- Newberry led by as many as 11 (23-12) with 11:59 to play but Tyson McClain, Gunn and Simmons hit three straight 3-pointers to spur a 9-0 run
- An 11-2 run was capped by another three by Simmons to give the Bears a 34-29 advantage with 5:22 left in the half
-  The Bears pushed the lead to as many as seven which was how the half would end as LR led 40-33
-  Simmons had 20 first-half points on 7-of-10 shooting and 4-of-6 from long range while Gunn added 13 on 5-of-10 shooting
- The Bears converted at 50 percent from the field and from three and the eight made triples in the opening half was the most in a period this season
- Quandaveon McCollum led the Wolves with 17 in the first half and TJ Brown added 13

SECOND HALF:
- Gunn and Simmons stayed hot in the second half, combining for 29 of the Bears 41 second-half points
- Marcus Ford had 13 in the final 20 minutes for the Wolves and hit a trio of threes
- Newberry cut the lead to 42-40 with 15:33 to play but LR pushed back ahead thanks to a 10-3 run
- The Wolves hung around until the nine-minute mark of the second half. With LR up 56-49, Simmons and Gunn hit back-to-back triples and Cooper Fowler was fouled on his three-point attempt and hit all three from the charity stripe. A Gunn jumper capped the 11-0 run and put the game out of reach.

ABOUT THE BEARS:
- Davion Bradford had a season-high 10 rebounds, the first Bear in double digits in the rebounding column this season
- Simmons' 33 points tied a career-high which he set against Anderson on Feb. 8, 2020. It's also the fourth game of his career that Simmons topped the 30-point plateau
- This was the 26^th game in his career that Gunn has topped the 20-point mark
- LR held a 37-28 advantage on the boards

NOTABLE WOLVES:
- McCollum finished with 25 points and eight rebounds on 9-of-16 shooting. McCollum entered the game with just three made 3-pointers on the year but went 3-of-6 from deep
- Brown had 16 points but had just three in the second half
- Ford added 15 points

UP NEXT: The Bears will travel to Charlotte to face top-seeded Queens on Thursday night.