NEWBERRY, S.C. --- Jesse Wheeler poured in 21 points as the Newberry College men's basketball team held off a furious charge in defeating visiting Tusculum College, 69-60 Wednesday night at Eleazer Arena. Newberry (18-6, 8-5 SAC) splits the season, while knocking the Pioneers (17-8, 9-5 SAC) out of first place in the South Atlantic Conference.

Newberry's Brett Goodwell tallied 17 points, while the trio of Clemente Martin, Matt Alexander and Vytautas Valiulis recorded eight markers each in the victory.

Tusculum's Kyle Moore, the SAC's leading scorer, finished with 18 points, while Rob Troutman added 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor. Josh Bennett was perfect from the floor going 5-for-5 for his 11 points, while Ryan Troutman added 10 points and five assists as TC suffered only its second loss in its last 11 outings.

Newberry scored the first eight points of the game, including a steal and a dunk by Martin 2:14 into the game. TC responded with an 8-2 run and later captured its first lead of the night at 14-12 following a three-pointer by Moore at the 12:01 mark of the first half.

The Scarlet and Gray answered with a 9-1 run to move out to an eight-point lead again (24-16) with 6:32 left in the period, following a dunk by Goodwell. The home team would eventually settle for a 30-23 lead at the half.

In the second period, Newberry used a 17-5 run to take its largest lead of the night at 56-40 with 6:23 remaining.

Tusculum would battle down the stretch and would trim the deficit to six with 16 seconds remaining thanks to an offensive rebound and put-back by Rob Troutman as TC trailed 66-60. But a pair of free throws by Grant Domsic sealed the victory for Newberry.

Newberry shot 51 percent on the evening, including 12-for-20 in the second period (60%). The Pioneers fired on a 46.2 percent clip, which included an 11-for-20 effort in the second half.

The Pioneers will play in their final regular season road game on Saturday as TC travels to Brevard College for a 4 p.m. league tilt.

- TC -