GREENWOOD – Clemente Martin scored 24 points to lead Newberry College to a 72-58 non-conference men's basketball victory over Lander at Finis Horne Arena Saturday afternoon, giving the Indians a two-game sweep of the season series.
Grant Domsic added five 3-pointers in the second half for Newberry, which improved to 4-4 on the season. The Bearcats fell to 3-4.
Martin made seven of 13 shots from the floor, including a pair of dunks, and hit nine of 10 free throws to lead the Indians. Domsic added 20 points while Stephane Bakinde had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Vytautas Valiulis led Newberry with seven assists. The Indians were shooting over 60 percent from the floor well into the second half before finishing at 56 percent. They also made nine of 14 from 3-point range (64 percent) with Domsic hitting six of nine.
Curtis Milner and Houston Wright led Lander with 10 points apiece. Brenton Harris led the Bearcats with six rebounds.
Newberry extended an eight-point halftime lead to 19 points, 51-32, on Martin's dunk off an alley-oop pass from Valiulis with 13:29 left in the game. Valiulis hit a 3-pointer to give the Indians a 57-40 lead with 9:28 left.
Lander tried to rally, scoring nine unanswered points to close within 57-49 on Milner's lay-up with 6:09 to go. But Newberry extended the lead back to 16 points, 65-49, with 4:17 left on a Bakinde's jumper. The Bearcats got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Newberry built a 35-27 halftime lead behind Martin's 17 points and the team's 61 percent shooting from the field (14-for-23). The Bearcats jumped out to an 8-2 lead, the visitors scored six unanswered points to tie the game at 8, then Dane Sparrow hit consecutive 3-pointers for a 14-10 Lander lead. The game was tied at 14, 16, 18 and 20 before Newberry closed the half on a 15-7 run.
Domsic and Martin had 3-pointers to break the 20-all tie, giving the Indians a 26-20 lead at the 4:09 mark. Martin's offensive rebound and dunk gave Newberry its largest lead of the half at 33-24 with 1:10 to go.
Newberry made 24 of 43 shots from the floor and hit 15 of 20 free throws (75 percent). Lander made 21 of 55 shots from the floor (38 percent), hit nine of 16 free throws (56 percent), and made seven of 25 from behind the arc (28 percent). The Indians had a 34-25 edge on the boards.
