Valentine’s career day powers Wolves past Bob Jones

GREENVILLE – As he stepped onto the Davis Field House floor Monday night, Rob Valentine’s career high was 16 points.

As he left it, his career high was 31.

Valentine tied a Newberry record with nine three-point field goals and shot 11-for-15 from the field to power Newberry to a 100-83 win over Bob Jones in Greenville.

Valentine finished the first half with 14 points and picked up right where he left off on the hottest shooting night of his career. His point total overshadowed a 25-point night from Marshall Lange, one off his own career-high, who played extended minutes.

The Wolves finished the contest 53.6 percent from the field and were a blistering 64.7 percent from beyond the arc. The 22 three-point field goals in the game tie a school record set against Allen two seasons ago.

Bob Jones had a good shooting night as well, going 52.5 percent from the field on three more attempts than the Wolves, but knocked down 15 less three-point field goals than did Newberry.

The Bruins kept the game within reach for much of the first half before Newberry’s defensive pressure and intensity began to affect the game. The Wolves allowed Bob Jones to shoot 58.3 percent in the half, but took six more field goal attempts and knocked down 12 of their 19 attempts from distance in the first 20 minutes to built a 55-39 halftime lead.

Newberry’s lead swelled to as many as 27 points late in the second half before Bob Jones cut the final deficit to 17.

Max Miller scored 12 points and swatted away five shots. Sikander Nielsen (12) and Nick Dietrich (10) gave Newberry a season high of five players in double figures.

The Wolves next compete on Friday against Voorhees at the Newberry Invitational. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. The winner will face the victor of Lees-McRae and Virginia State on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in the tournament’s championship game, with a third-place game slated for noon.

Newberry Athletics contributed to the writing of this article.