ROCKY MOUNT, NC -- Afternoon basketball during the week is an odd occurrence, and Wednesday the Covenant Scots nearly caught North Carolina Wesleyan napping. The Scots led for the entire first half and for the first 7:23 of the second half before falling to the Battling Bishops 63-58 at Everett Gymnasium.
Covenant controlled the game in the first half and was helped by an efficient offensive attack. The Scots shot 53% in the first 20 minutes of play, compared to just 26% for the Bishops. Covenant's largest lead of the half came with under a minute to play when Dominique McGaughey found Stephen Johnson for a layup, giving the Scots a 34-25 lead. Covenant would take that score into the break.
The hot shooting for the Scots continued into the second half as Sam Bowman connected on his first two shots and Kacey Chambers drilled a three-pointer to help Covenant add on to their lead at 41-29. But the Bishops, members of the USA South Athletic Conference, would start to close the gap on the Scots from that point on. A three from Cornelius Snow cut the Scots lead to a single point with 13:43 remaining. On Wesleyan's next possession, Domarius Thomas rebounded a miss from teammate Alex Murray, then gave the Bishops their first lead with a follow-up dunk. The Scots had several chances to tie or take the lead the rest of the contest but missed free throws, and costly turnovers did Covenant in.
Covenant had a hard time keeping up with Wesleyan on the boards. The Bishops out-rebounded the Scots 46-37, including 22 on the offensive side that led to 25 second-chance points for Wesleyan. Additionally, after shooting so well in the first half, Covenant was cold in the second half, shooting just 30% compared to the Bishops 45% in the final 20 minutes.
The Scots (2-13) put two players in double figures with forward Jon DeVries' 11 points and 8 rebounds leading the way. Sam Bowman scored 10 points and also grabbed 7 rebounds. Guard Kacey Chambers tallied 9 points while Dominique McGaughey had another solid game with 6 points and 4 assists.
Wesleyan's Domarius Thomas led all players with 13 points to help the Bishops improve their record to 8-5 on the year. Matt Dougherty and Alex Murray scored 12 points apiece.
Covenant will take the next few days off before traveling to Alabama to take on Huntingdon College on Monday, January 10 at 3:00pm. The Scots dropped the matchup of the two teams 54-49 earlier this season. Covenant returns home on January 22 against Rust College.
