LAGRANGE, Ga. -- The Scots of Covenant traveled to LaGrange College Wednesday night looking for their first win of the season. Last year, these two teams split their meetings with the Scots winning the first meeting 70-66 and LaGrange finishing on top 63-48 later on in the season. The Scots were looking to be the first team in the series to beat the other team on their home floor.
Junior Sam Bowman broke the ice with the first basket of the game, giving the Scots the very early advantage. The game was hard fought throughout the first half with neither team building a substantial lead. LaGrange's Blake Craft hit a three at the 16:38 mark, giving them a 3 point lead, a lead that they would hold until a lay-up by senior Dominique McGaughey at the 5:19 mark tied the game at 21 apiece. The last five minutes would see Covenant build their largest lead of the game- 6 points- off a Bowman jumper only to see it evaporate in the last two and a half minutes. With only seconds left, a LaGrange dunk gave them the slight advantage heading to the locker room with the score of 28-27 in favor of the home team.
The Scots were lead in the first half by Sam Bowman who had scored 12 points off of 6 of 9 shooting, and he grabbed 9 rebounds. Sophomore Jon DeVries had 5 points in the first half, hitting a three from the top of the key.
Both teams started the second half cold with each missing shots and turning the ball over. Bowman got the score back in Covenant's favor at the 17:42 mark, erasing the one point half time lead. This time, Covenant kept the pressure on and kept the lead which swelled as high as 6 points 3 different times in the first ten minutes of the first half. But LaGrange hung in there with the Scots, keeping the game within reach, and with exactly 8:00 remaining, the score was tied at 41. The game, which was now anyone's game, went back and forth with each team responding to the other as the game was tied at 45 three minutes later. From the tie at 45, the Scots went on an 11-3 run to finish the game strong. Freshman Kasey Chambers hit 5 key free throws down the stretch to give the edge to Covenant. And with that, the Scots found their way to victory for the first time this year. Also in the head to head competition with LaGrange, it was the first time that Covenant had won at LaGrange.
Junior Sam Bowman finished with 23 points to lead all scorers. He hit 9 of 16 from the field and 5 of 8 from the free throw line; he also grabbed 14 boards, giving him his second double-double of the season. Freshman Kasey Chambers finished his night with 10 points. Senior Dominique McGaughey finished his night with 7 points, hitting 3 of his 6 shots.
The Scots are on the road again as they travel to Maryville, Tennessee to take on the Scots of Maryville College Saturday afternoon at 4:00pm.
