SEWANEE, Tenn. -- Coming off of a 3-22 campaign just one year ago, the Covenant Scots basketball program is looking for improvement this season. The 2010-11 basketball season got underway for the Scots Tuesday night in Sewanee, Tennessee on the campus of the University of the South. Covenant battled hard to erase a 14 point first half deficit, but poor shooting, especially from behind the three-point line, did the Scots in as they fell to the Tigers of Sewanee 60-51.
Sewanee's Trent Williams hit a three pointer with 3:16 left in the first half to give the Tigers a 25-11 advantage. Covenant cut that lead down to 27-20 at the break by connecting on four straight shots, including a three-point play from Chase Foster. The Scots came out of the locker room like a different team to start the second half as they turned up the intensity and went on a 16-5 scoring run to take a 36-32 lead with 15:21 remaining.
Covenant could not manage another point for the next 5:27 until Damien Chaney's jumper to tie the game at 38. Chase Foster hit a three pointer less than a minute later, giving the Scots a three point lead at 41-38, but that would be the last time Covenant would lead. Sewanee would out-score the Scots 22-10 over the final 8:58 to secure the win.
Covenant was led by Sam Bowman who recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Callum Sears led the team in scoring with 13 and Chase Foster chipped in 9. For the game, Covenant shot just 37% (22-59) and was a dismal 3-21 from behind the arc.
"We just didn't knock down open shots," Scots head coach Kyle Taylor commented. "That unfortunately happens at times in college basketball. When we did make our runs most of it came from our defense."
Lewis Affronti from Sewanee (1-0) led all players in scoring with 15 points, all from behind the three line where he was 5-12 on the night. Affronti was the only player in double figures in scoring for the Tigers. Sewanee shot even worse than Covenant at 29.6%, making only 16 shots on the night, but 10 of those were from three point territory where they shot 27% (10-37). Sewanee out-rebounded the Scots 42-38 and had fewer turnovers (11) than the Scots (13).
Even with the loss, Taylor was pleased with his team's performance, "Overall, I was fairly pleased with our effort, especially defensively. I thought we did a nice job of pressuring the ball and forcing them to take three point shots or tough two point shots (those are two of our main goals defensively). They shot 37 threes in the game compared to only 17 twos. That is unheard of in college basketball. Our Achilles heel defensively was that we gave up 17 offensive rebounds."
Covenant will take its 0-1 record to Wheaton, Illinois this weekend when they participate in the Wheaton Classic hosted by Wheaton College. The Scots will take on the hosts in the first game Friday night at 9:00pm eastern time. Then on Saturday, Covenant will play either Wisconsin-Whitewater or Defiance College. Covenant will play its home opener on November 23 at 8:00 against Berry College.
