ANDERSON, S.C. – With junior Jalen Hillery pouring in a career-high 31 points and Crosby James adding 21 points, the Anderson men's basketball team wrapped up its regular-season home slate by rolling past Newberry, 96-77, in South Atlantic Conference play, Monday night at the Abney Athletic Center.

With both teams battling for position in the postseason SAC Tournament that begins Saturday, Anderson (6-10, 6-10 SAC) swept the regular-season series after defeating the Wolves earlier this month and snapped a four-game skid in the process.

Newberry (8-5, 8-5 SAC) has dropped two of its last three outings.

"What a great team win tonight," said Anderson head coach Jeff Brookman. "We played a complete game on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we shared the ball and made shots the entire game and I think that helped on the defensive end. We will need the same effort on Wednesday to close out the regular season with a win on the road."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Hillery finished his career night by going 8-of-10 from beyond the arc and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. The Lawrenceville, Ga. native also equaled a career high by pulling down eight rebounds. James was 5-of-9 from the field and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the line. Junior guard Kai Rivers added 11 points and eight boards.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
After Newberry's TJ Brown opened the scoring with a jumper, the Trojans answered with four straight 3-pointers in a two-minute span that saw AU take a lead it would not relinquish. While connecting on 5-of-7 treys, the Trojans built a 22-6 lead and still led by 16 points (28-12) with 9:30 remaining in the first half.

The Wolves responded with nine unanswered points to climb within seven, but AU steadily rebuilt an 18-point lead on the strength of a 16-5 outburst that was capped by James' four-point play with just more than a minute left in the half and the Trojans held a 49-28 advantage at the break.

Second Half
With the Trojans connecting both at the free throw line and from beyond the arc, Newberry was unable to get any closer than 16 over the final 20 minutes of the contest.

ANDERSON STAT OF THE NIGHT
The Trojans connected on 11-of-16 (68.8%) three point field goal attempts in the decisive first half.

NOTABLES
• Seventeen of AU's 29 field goals came from beyond the arc.
• The Trojans finished the night by going 17-of-27 (63.0%) from long range.
• AU connected on a season-high 52.7% (29-of-55) of its field goals.
• The Trojans out-rebounded Newberry, 36-31.
• The Trojans, who struggled from the charity stripe two days ago, connected on their first 20 free throws tonight on their way to 84.0% (21-of-25) accuracy from the line.
• The Trojans equaled their second-highest assist total of the season (16).
• AU has won eight of the last 10 matchups with the Wolves.

UP NEXT
The Trojans are slated to close out the regular season at Mars Hill on Wednesday. Tip-off at Stanford Arena is set for 8 p.m.