LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Some nights, teams just seem to have the "it" factor going for them. For the Covenant Scots, this was apparent Thursday night when they ran into a Piedmont College squad that had everything working in their favor. Covenant was able to hang with their future Great South opponent for the first 20 minutes of play, but Piedmont continued to scorch the nets in the second half as they came away with a 71-54 win over the Scots at Barnes Gymnasium.
In a scene similar to Tuesday night's contest with Emory, Covenant got out to a hot start and led 10-4 just over three minutes into the game after guard Kacey Chambers drilled a three-pointer from the right corner. The Lions battled back, however, and led by as many as seven in the first half. The Scots clawed back into the game with an 8-2 scoring streak to cut the Piedmont lead to 33-32 as the halftime buzzer sounded.
For most games this season, the second half has been the Scots' Achilles heel, and on this night, the same pattern reared its ugly head. Piedmont built upon its one-point lead at the break as they stretched it out to 11 after back-to-back treys from Michael Ross making it 48-37 in favor of the Lions. The shots kept falling for the visitors while, on the other side, Covenant continued to struggle scoring. The Scots would not get any closer than 11 the rest of the night.
Piedmont's hot shooting was certainly the reason they came out victorious in this one. The Lions shot 53.8% (28-52) for the night, including 57.7% in the second half alone. Piedmont also made 10-22 (45.5%) three pointers on the night. Covenant, on the other hand, shot only 34.4% from the field and 19% from behind the arc.
Sam Bowman led the Scots (1-7) in scoring with 12 points while also grabbing 7 rebounds. Guard Chase Foster was the only other Covenant player in double digits in scoring with his 10 points. He also led the team in steals with 3.
Piedmont's Ross led all players with 20 points, including going 6-10 from three point territory. Tracey Gardner recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while Josh Haymore chipped in 10 points as well. Point guard Will Skaggs had 9 assists to lead the Lions (5-3) but also turned the ball over 5 times as Covenant was able to force Piedmont into 17 turnovers as opposed to just 8 for the Scots.
Both the Covenant men and women's teams will host Huntingdon College on Saturday afternoon. The women's tip-off is slated for 2:00pm while the men take the floor at 4:00pm.
