GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Newberry's Quandaveon McCollum blocked the game-winning layup at the buzzer as the sixth-seeded Wolves rallied from a 17-point deficit to upset No. 3 seed Tusculum 60-59 Wednesday night in a quarterfinal game of the 2022 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Championship at Pioneer Arena.
With Newberry (15-12) leading 60-59 with 12 seconds remaining, McCollum missed the front end of the one-and-bonus as TU's Trenton Gibson came down with the rebound. Gibson would be double-teamed on the wing, but found Joshua Scott underneath the basket. But the Newberry defense converged and Scott's potential game-winner was blocked by McCollum at the horn to preserve the victory and send the Wolves to Saturday's SAC semifinal at Timmons Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Wolves avenge a pair of double-digit losses to the Pioneers and advance to face No. 2 seed and top-10 nationally-ranked Queens University of Charlotte. Tusculum (19-8), who entered the game ranked ninth in the latest NCAA Division II Southeast Region Poll, will sit and await word on Sunday for a possible at-large berth for next week's national tournament.
Newberry, who trailed by 28-11 with seven minutes left in the first half took its first lead of the game at the 10:17 mark of the second half as Malakhi Stremlow made one of two free throws for a 48-47 advantage. It was part of an 11-0 run over a four-minute span by the Wolves who took its largest lead of the night as McCollum converted a three-point play with 8:48 remaining.
Tusculum tied the game at 52-52 following a Justin Mitchell jumper and a pair of free throws from James West IV with 6:40 on the scoreboard. TU never led in the final 10 minutes but Newberry would not go up by more than a possession for the final seven minutes.
Newberry regained the league on Ford's back-door layup and Stremlow made the second of two free throw tries to go up 55-52 with 5:41 left.
Gibson converted a layup to trim the deficit to 55-54 and came up with a steal on a jump ball with 4:54 to go. Tusculum would turn the ball over coming out of a timeout, but Newberry was whistled for the second shot-clock violation of the game. Both teams would go scoreless for two-and-half minutes before Newberry's TJ Brown broke the drought with his layup with 2:42 on the clock and a 57-54 lead.
Gibson missed a layup, but Brandon Mitchell came up with the rebound to extend the possession. West would later tie the game at 57-57 with a three-pointer with 2:14 remaining.
But Newberry would get a go-ahead layup with 1:57 to go by Devario Sheppard as Newberry called a timeout lead 59-57.
Tusculum came up empty on its next possession as Newberry took over with 1:38 on the scoreboard. The Wolves would miss layup as the shot clock was running down, but the ball went off of a Tusculum player to give the possession back to Newberry.
Ford would be fouled with 55 seconds left as he missed the first free throw, but made the second for a 60-57 lead. The Pioneers would get the ball to Gibson who drove down the lane, made the layup and was fouled with 44 seconds left. But Gibson, TU's all-time leader in career free throws made, missed the potential game-tying attempt as McCollum pulled down his sixth rebound of the night.
Newberry would call its final timeout with 27 seconds on the game clock and 13 seconds on the shot clock. With 16 seconds left Ford missed a contested layup, but once again, TU was unable to hold onto the rebound as Newberry would have possession. The ball was inbounded to McCollum who was fouled setting up the final seconds of the game.
Ford finished the game with 15 points, McCollum tallied a dozen and Stremlow had seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Justin Mitchell led the Pioneers with 13 points, while Gibson posted his 12th career double-double with 11 points and a career-tying 12 assists. West tallied 10 points, while Scott added eight points. Brandon Mitchell tallied four points, four rebounds and blocked three shots including the 200th of his career. His 201 career blocks are a program record and becomes only the sixth player in SAC history to eclipse 200 rejections.
Newberry trailed 28-11 with 7:04 remaining in the first half, but went on a 28-5 run over a span of 6:20 to cut the deficit to 33-31 following a Marcus Ford three-pointer with 36 seconds on the clock. TU got a dunk by Jacob Hobbs just before halftime as the Pioneers led 35-31 at the intermission.
Tusculum shot 45.5 percent from the floor, but went 6-of-24 from three-point territory including 1-of-7 in the second half. Newberry went 23-of-51 (45.1%) and 9-of-17 from the free throw line. TU would finish the game going 3-of-4 at the charity stripe, all coming in the second half.
The Wolves out-rebounded Tusculum by a 35-26 margin including 12-8 on the offensive boards as Newberry held a 17-13 advantage in second chance points. The Wolves forced 11 turnovers converting those TU miscues into 15 points. Newberry also had a 36-32 lead in points in the paint.
If Tusculum's season is to end, the Pioneers would come one victory shy of the program's fifth 20-win season.
In his 106-game career, Gibson scored 1,620 points, which are the sixth-most in school history. He is ranked in the program's top-10 in several statistical categories including field goals made (509 – 7th), field goal attempts (1231 – 2nd), free throws made (477 – 1st), free throw attempts (596), free throw percentage (80.0 – 7th), rebounds (663 – 8th), rebound average (6.25 – 4th), assists (461 – 3rd), assists per game (4.34 – 6th) and steals (136 – 5th).
To go along with Brandon Mitchell impressive block total, he also is the program's second-leading rebounder with 780 career boards including 345 on the offensive glass which are the second-most in SAC history. He also finishes with 919 career points in his 132 contests.
