FLORENCE, SC – A hot-shooting Newberry College squad gradually pulled away from Francis Marion University in the second half to claim an 83-64 non-conference victory, Monday night (Nov. 28) in men's basketball play.
 
Francis Marion (3-3) will return to Conference Carolinas play on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. contest at nationally ranked UNC Pembroke in the latest installment of the Battle for I-95.  The next home game for the Patriots will be Saturday against Belmont Abbey College at 4 p.m.
 
Sophomore guard Farid SaintCyr Jr. led FMU with a career-high 18 points, including four three-pointers.  The 6-1 product of Miami Preparatory School also dished out three assists and registered seven steals – one shy of the school single-game record.
 
Sophomore 6-8 center Jonah Pierce scored 10 points, while senior guards Doug Alves and Alex Cox added nine points each.
 
Freshman reserve guard Caleb Byrd paced four Newberry players in double figures with 13 points as the Wolves improved to 5-2.
 
Newberry took an early 6-2 advantage, but Francis Marion quickly erased that with a 12-4 spurt.  The Patriot lead would swell to 22-14 after a fast-break lay-in by Cox with 12:12 left before halftime.
 
The Wolves rallied with an 18-2 run as FMU suffered through a six-minute scoreless drought.  The margin would reach 10 at 39-29 before Patriot junior forward Yohan-Steve Yebga canned a floater in the lane at the halftime horn.
 
A three-pointer by SaintCyr Jr. early in the second stanza trimmed the deficit to seven at 41-34, but that would be as close as the Patriots would get.  The margin would remain in double figures for the final 13:27 of the contest.
 
Francis Marion shot 43.1 percent from the floor and was 6-of-13 at the foul line, while Newberry connected on 54.4 percent of its shots and was 14-of-25 at the stripe.

 
 
11/28/22 7:30 pm at Florence, SC
NEWBERRY 83, FRANCIS MARION 64
NEWBERRY (5-2,0-0 SAC)
Caleb Byrd 3-7 6-8 13; Andrew Robinson 4-6 1-2 12; TJ Brown 5-9 0-0 11;
Quandaveon McCollum 5-9 0-2 10; Jalen Johnson 3-6 2-2 9; Drake Downs 3-5 2-3
8; Malakhi Stremlow 3-4 2-3 8; Devario Sheppard 2-2 0-3 5; Robin Bedford 1-1
1-2 3; Malik Joseph 1-3 0-0 2; Landon Harrison 1-1 0-0 2; Luke Seals 0-4 0-0
0; Booker Cusaac 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-57 14-25 83.
FRANCIS MARION (3-3,1-0 Conferen)
Farid SaintCyr Jr. 6-14 2-3 18; Jonah Pierce 4-6 2-2 10; Alex Cox 4-11 0-1
9; Doug Alves 3-6 1-2 9; Yohan-Steve Yebga 3-5 0-2 6; Darius Jones 2-5 0-0
5; Chandler O'Bannon 1-3 1-2 3; Asante Turner 1-2 0-0 2; Zy'Kee Knox 1-1 0-1
2; Austin Harrell 0-2 0-0 0; Nick Silva 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 25-58 6-13 64.
Halftime: Newberry 39 Francis Marion 31
3-point goals--Newberry 7-16 (Andrew Robinson 3-3; TJ Brown 1-4; Devario
Sheppard 1-1; Caleb Byrd 1-2; Jalen Johnson 1-2; Malik Joseph 0-2; Luke
Seals 0-1; Malakhi Stremlow 0-1), Francis Marion 8-29 (Farid SaintCyr Jr.
4-8; Doug Alves 2-5; Darius Jones 1-4; Alex Cox 1-6; Asante Turner 0-1;
Austin Harrell 0-2; Nick Silva 0-2; Chandler O'Bannon 0-1). Fouled
out--Newberry-None, Francis Marion-None. Rebounds--Newberry 43 (Quandaveon
McCollum 10), Francis Marion 21 (Yohan-Steve Yebga 6). Assists--Newberry 25
(Caleb Byrd 4; Quandaveon McCollum 4; Jalen Johnson 4), Francis Marion 17
(Asante Turner 4). Total fouls--Newberry 18, Francis Marion 18. Technical
fouls--None. A-397