HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. -- Callum Sears and Zarome Lakey each achieved their season-highs in points with 30 and 23 respectively, but Covenant fell to Rust College 87-73 on Saturday afternoon in Mississippi.  The Scots had defeated the Bearcats earlier in the year 77-75.  With the loss, Covenant drops its fifth in a row and sees its record fall to 4-18 on the season.

The Scots got out to a fast start, going ahead 12-4 after a Sears jumper just a few minutes into the game.  Covenant kept its lead at 6 points with jumpers from Lakey and Stephen Johnson on back-to-back possessions, making it 18-12 Scots with 13:09 left in the half.  From there, Rust would take the lead for good with a 7-0 run to make it 19-18.  The Bearcats extended that lead out to as many as 12 points before 3 straight points from Lakey to end the half and cut the Scots deficit down to 9 at 39-30.

 Covenant could not catch up to the Bearcats in the second 20 minutes as Rust pulled ahead by 21 after a three-pointer from Andrew Birk with 8:31 left.  The Scots battled hard and were able to cut the deficit down to 7 when Lakey hit another jumper, but with only 1:17 left in the game, it was too little, too late for the Scots

Besides Sears and Lakey's outstanding performances, Joey Danek was the only other Scot in double figure scoring with 12 points while grabbing 8 rebounds.  Lakey added 7 assists, and Dominique McGaughey chipped in with 4 more as the Scots dished out 21 assists on 26 made baskets.

Rust was led by Jahrell Holmes' 26 points and 4 rebounds.  Markeith Wilson had 16 points of his own for the Bearcats.

Covenant will play again on Tuesday, February 15 at 8:00pm against LaGrange College.  For the men, it will be Senior Night as Dominique McGaughey, Stephen Johnson, and Logan Dahms will each play their final game at Barnes Physical Education Center.