Lenoir-Rhyne University's freshman men showed signs of maturity.
Four first-year players combined to make two-thirds of L-R's 24 field goals in a 65-63 win over Newberry on Saturday afternoon.
The victory broke a nine-game losing streak for the last-place Bears (4-17, 2-9 South Atlantic Conference) and moved them to within one game of eighth-place Newberry (8-14, 3-8) in competition for a berth in the SAC's eight-team tournament.
Besides losing games, the Bears have lost point guard Marcus Hodges, their second-leading scorer, to a broken jaw.
"We've been through a lot of trials and tribulations," senior guard Ryan Crawford said in the Shuford Gym lobby after the game. "Basically, we've had to tell the freshmen to do a job that a lot of freshmen aren't asked to do."
Spenser Sydney, Matt Kunz, Alex Watkins and Kameko Walls responded by scoring 29 of L-R's first 31 points of the second half.
"Every freshman stepped up tonight and played big minutes," said Crawford, whose three straight free throws in the final 34 seconds helped to hold off Newberry.
Sydney led L-R with a season-high 16 points, 14 in the second half.
"Spenser's got a chance to be a really good player," L-R head coach John Lentz said. "One of the things that's helped him is that he's had to play some point."
Junior D.J. Blackmon had 15 points, 13 in the first half, to score in double figures for the 22nd straight game.
Matt Kunz, a 6-foot-7 freshman, added a season-high 12 points and tied Blackmon for the team lead in rebounds with seven, helping L-R to a 37-29 advantage on the boards.
"He's gotten better," Lentz said of Kunz. "He goes after some loose balls and he doesn't mind pushing and shoving."
Blackmon, however, was the only L-R player to score more than four points in the first half, which included 14 L-R turnovers and ended with Newberry ahead 34-29.
"We didn't come ready to play at all," Lentz said.
Newberry was in front 24-15 after Coleman Young connected on a 3-point shot with 4:26 remaining in the first half. L-R, which had made only six of its first 22 field goal attempts, then hit its last five of the half.
Blackmon made a breakaway dunk and added a free throw with 1:33 remaining in the half, then stole the ball and dribbled downcourt for a layup, which cut Newberry's lead to 28-27, 25 seconds later.
L-R, which had led only once (at 10-9), went ahead 41-40 on a foul shot by Sydney with 15:48 to play. Newberry tied it 45-all before the Bears scored 11 straight points and held a 56-45 lead after a layup by Kunz with 7:15 left.
The score was 60-51 after Walls scored on a break with 2:13 to go."
"It should have never been close," Lentz said. "We just threw crazy passes."
L-R was ahead 65-61 after Crawford made a free throw, then missed one, with 12.7 seconds left.
Newberry's Ray Robinson scored the last two points of the game on a rebound with 5.6 seconds to go.
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