Cedarville, OH - In their second game of the Cedarville Invitational Tournament, the Scots faced off against the Urbana University Blue Knights. It was a hard fought game by both teams but Covenant was able to forge ahead and pick up their first win of the year. The Scots played phenomenal defense throughout the night, giving up only 24 second half points. They were able to force the Blue Knights into thirty percent shooting (19-62) on the night and fifteen percent shooting (3-19) from beyond the arc. After Saturday's game the Scots rank sixth nationally in opponent three-point field goal percentage.
Covenant head coach Nathan Kirkpatrick had this to say about the defensive effort, "I thought our defensive intensity was great all night and we did an impressive job of contesting all shots, which in turn led to some big transition opportunities. Holding any college basketball team to fifteen percent shooting from the three-point line is huge and it is a credit to our guys buying into tough and aggressive defense."
Senior Reed Crosson capped of a solid performance in the Cedarville Tournament by scoring nineteen points. He was named to the All-Tournament team for his strong performances against both Urbana and Cedarville. The Scots were a balanced attack with senior big man Chris Hall and freshman guard J.R. Avery finishing with ten points apiece. The Scots' fifty percent three-point shooting (8-16) was fueled by sophomore Davis Eldridge's thirteen points on 3-5 shooting from three. The Scots had a great team effort with eight different players scoring in the win.
Coach Kirkpatrick praised his team after the game, saying "I thought it was a great team effort with everybody contributing and we really grew up tonight with some big stops and offensive execution down the stretch." The Scots take on Berry College in their next game on Tuesday, November 25.
