GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Newberry College men's basketball team rallied from a 12-point, second half deficit to defeat host Tusculum College, 71-66 Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena in South Atlantic Conference action.

With the victory, the Wolves (9-9, 4-6 SAC) extend their winning streak to three in a row, while ending a four-game losing skid against the Pioneers (9-11, 6-4 SAC). It also snapped a four-year losing streak in Greeneville for Newberry as the Wolves record their first win at TC since the 2005-06 campaign. It also split the season series between the two programs.

Newberry's Matt Dixon (Elizabeth City, N.C.) led the way for the visitors, scoring 12 of his team-high 15 points in the second half, including his three-pointer with 3:41 remaining in the contest as the Wolves took the lead for good at 61-58.

Newberry's Tony Davis (Sarasota, Fla.) finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Brunes Charles (Naples, Fla.) added 11 markers in the victory on four of five shooting.

Tusculum sophomore Brett Williams (Oviedo, Fla.) led all scorers with a career-high 22 points as he went 7-of-12 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Junior Justin Steigerwald (Cincinnati, Ohio) added 13 points and five rebounds, while senior Rob Troutman (Mt. Washington, Ky.) finished with a dozen points and five boards,

Newberry opened the contest with seven straight points out of the gate, but Tusculum would respond with a 7-0 run of its own to tie the game for the first of thee times in the half. With the Wolves leading 11-9, the Pioneers answered with another 7-0 spurt, including layups by Steigerwald and junior Tommy Klempin (Reynoldsburg, Ohio), while Williams connected on four straight free throws as the Pioneers led 16-11 with 9:51 left in the period. TC would later extend the lead to eight points on three occasions, including 30-22 heading into the locker room. The first half saw the Pioneers shoot 43 percent from the floor, while holding the Wolves to just 7-of-23 shooting (30.4%) in the opening frame.

Tusculum opened the second half with back-to-back buckets by Troutman and Steigerwald to take its largest lead of the contest at 34-22 with 18:59 remaining. But Steigerwald would pick up his third and fourth fouls of the game within a nine-second span, sending him to the bench for the next eight minutes.

Newberry answered with an 11-2 run over a span of four minutes to trim the TC lead to 36-34 following a three-point basket by Dixon with 14:36 left in the game.

After a layup by TC sophomore JD Miller (Versailles, Ky.), the Wolves would use a 5-1 spurt that included a Shamel Akins (Charlotte, N.C.) three-pointer and a Chris Reynolds (Augusta, Ga.) layup to tie the game at 39-39 with 11:38 remaining. Klempin and junior Kevin Vest (Dayton, Ohio) followed with consecutive buckets to put the Pioneers ahead again at 43-39 with 10:49 remaining.

Newberry would later score six unanswered points, thanks to a layup by Jawuan Lockhart (Washington, D.C.) and a pair of baskets from Davis, including his rebound and put-back at the 9:29 mark to give the Wolves their first lead of the period (47-45).

With the score tied 49-49 following two Troutman free throws, the Wolves scored five straight points, including a Brandon Riley (Baltimore, Md.) layup with eight minutes left to give Newberry its largest lead of the afternoon at 54-49.

Williams would score five straight points of his own thanks to a three-point play and a basket with 5:23 left to knot the game at 56-56.

Steigerwald, who had returned to the TC lineup four minutes earlier, tied the game for the ninth and final time with his jumper with 4:14 left on the clock.

Dixon's trey with 3:41 put Newberry in the lead again, but back came the Pioneers as he connected on his layup with 2:55 left to cut the deficit to 61-60.

Dixon was fouled on the ensuing possession and converted on his two trips to the charity stripe and Riley made a basket as Newberry led once again by five (65-60) with 1:57 remaining.

Troutman responded with a clutch three-pointer 29 seconds later to bring the Pioneers within 65-63 with 1:28 left. Newberry missed a three-point attempt, but Davis came up with the offensive board as the Wolves used the second chance with Riley making a 13-foot jumper in the paint to give his squad a 67-63 lead with 58.2 seconds left.

Steigerwald scored on a driving layup with 44 seconds remaining to bring the home team to 67-65. TC had a golden chance when Lockhart missed his two free throw attempts with 39.5 remaining, but Davis came through once again with his third offensive rebound of the night and converted one of two free throw shots with 37.2 remaining as the Wolves now led 68-65.

Steigerwald was fouled on his layup attempt, but could only convert one of the two free throws as the Pioneers were forced to foul, as Akins made a pair of free throws, while Patrick Ryan added another to provide the final margin at 71-66.

Newberry shot 46.2 percent from the floor, including 17-of-29 (58.6%) in the second half.

The Wolves outscored the Pioneers 13-4 in second chance points, including 8-0 in the final period. The Newberry bench, which went nine-deep, outscored the Tusculum bench by a 34-4 margin.

Tusculum returns to the road for the first time in two weeks as they travel to Harrogate to take nationally-ranked Lincoln Memorial University for an 8 p.m. contest at Tex Turner Arena. Tusculum has won its last three games away from Greeneville and is a perfect 4-0 in SAC road contests this season.

Newberry will wrap up its three-game road swing on Wednesday as the Wolves travel to Mars Hill College for an 8 p.m. contest.

- TC -