NEWBERRY, S.C. – Anderson opened its first two-game road trip of the young season with an 82-71 setback to Newberry, in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action, Saturday afternoon at Eleazer Arena.
Anderson slipped to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in conference play with its second consecutive setback, while Newberry (1-5, 1-3 SAC) won its first game of the year after suffering three losses by a combined total of seven points already in the early season.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Guard Crosby James II led all scorers with 23 points, including 14 in the second half, and swiped a game-high three steals. He was 6-of-11 from the field and drained four of his six three-point attempts. Guard Quin Nottingham added 17 points after going 9-of-11 from the free throw line, while handing out four assists. Forward Parker Dortch tallied 12 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman guard Myles Jenkins was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and finished with six points and six boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The score was deadlocked three of its five times inside the opening five minutes of the contest.
AU was 5-of-8 from the field, with two of the baskets coming from long range in the first seven minutes, but four untimely turnovers left the Trojans playing catch-up for the first 27+ minutes of the game.
With Newberry holding a narrow, 15-14, lead at the 12:17 mark, the Wolves went on an 11-3 scoring run over the next four minutes that boosted their advantage to 26-17 and they held a 39-34 edge at halftime.
Second Half
With Newberry holding a 46-39 lead following TJ Brown's 3-pointer with less than 16 minutes left in the game, the Trojans went on a 10-2 scoring surge that was capped by Mason Carver's 3-pointer that gave AU its first lead of the contest, at 49-48, with 12:23 on the clock.
Less than 30 seconds later, James connected on 1-of-2 from the free throw line to give the Black and Gold what turned out to be its largest lead of the afternoon (50-48). But the Wolves countered with back-to-back treys to regain a brief four-point lead before James dropped in a layup and Dortch added a pair of free throws to knot the score for the fourth time of the afternoon, at 54 apiece.
Nottingham then netted two free throws to give AU a 56-54 edge, and following a Newberry basket, Dortch made 1-of-2 from the line to give the Trojans their final advantage of the game with 9:04 on the clock, as Newberry answered with a 14-4 run and AU would get no closer than two possessions the rest of the way.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE DAY
The Trojans led the game for 91 seconds and their largest lead was at 50-48.
NOTABLES
• AU has won eight the last 11 meetings with the Wolves.
• Seven of the last nine games between the Trojans and Wolves had been decided by 25 total points - an average of 3.6 points.
• The Trojans and Wolves have met 28 times since the 2003-04 season, with Anderson holding an 18-10 edge in the series.
• Newberry won the battle of the boards, 38-28.
• AU outscored the Wolves, 32-28, in the paint.
• Crosby James is 22-of-39 (56.4%) from the field over the last three games, including 10-of-17 (58.9%) from beyond the arc.
• Quin Nottingham is 23-of-26 (88.5%) from the charity stripe over the last three games.
UP NEXT
The Trojans will wrap up the road trip by traveling to Mars Hill on Wednesday. Tip-off against the Lions at Stanford Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
