Lookout Mountain, Ga -- On a night with a frenzied crowd atmosphere, the Covenant Scots pleased the home faithful with a 77-74 win over the visiting Berry College Vikings. The crowd of nearly 1,000 participated in a "Royal Blue-Out" as 500 blue Covenant t-shirts were given away during the night's games. The raucous crowd was into the game from start to finish and the Scots seemed to feed off the energy in the building.
Three Covenant (1-0) players finished in double figures led by Jon DeVries and his 17 points. DeVries battled foul trouble for much of the game and fouled out at the 3:11 mark in the second half after playing only 18 minutes. Callum Sears and Joey Danek were there to pick up the Scots, however.
Sears scored 12 points and Danek had a double-double with 10 points and 17 rebounds. The 17 rebounds for Danek are a career-high for the junior. Zarome Lakey chipped in 9 points while Colton McGriff and T.J. Cox each added 8 points for Covenant.
Both teams battled in a first half that saw five ties. Berry jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead with a jumper from Mac Whalen, but Covenant answered right back with a three-pointer from Sears. Covenant took its biggest lead of the half at 24-20 when Danek rebounded a missed free throw by Lakey and got his short jumper to go with 9:15 left in the half. The Vikings would eventually go into the halftime break up 37-34.
In the second half, the Scots went on a 10-2 run in the first 4:43 of the half, capped by a Lakey layup after an offensive rebound, to take a 44-39 lead. The Scots then took their largest lead of the game at 11 points with a basket from McGriff that made it 62-51 at the 8:03 mark.
Berry would not go away as they chipped the Covenant lead down to as few as three points on two occasions, with the second one coming when Hunter Smoak connected on two free-throws with two minutes left that made it 75-72 Covenant. The Scots were just able to hang on for the rest of the game despite going 2-for-10 from the foul line in the final 1:50 of regulation.
The Vikings (0-1) put five players in double figures for the night. Whalen had a team-high 16 points and 15 rebounds to lead Berry. Lake Graham also recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Nasser Almulla had 14 points with Smoak and Michael Schulte each tallying 10 points.
For the game, Covenant outrebounded the Vikings 52-44, including a 20-9 advantage on the offensive glass which led to 22 second-chance points. The Scots also forced Berry into 20 turnovers compared to just 16 for the home team.
The Scots will take to the road for the first time this year when they participate in the Lon Varnell Classic held at the University of the South on Friday and Saturday. Friday night at 9 p.m. Covenant will take on Free Will Baptist College and on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. they will play Boyce College.
