LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- The Covenant men's basketball team won for the sixth time in seven games and senior Callum Sears was there to lead the way.
Sears scored a game-high 22 points, including 16 in the second half with four 3-pointers, and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career as the Scots came away with a 68-57 win over Hiwassee in the final game of the Covenant College Classic.
Covenant moves to 7-4 overall and 6-1 at home this season. Hiwassee drops to 4-14 on the year.
In his career, Sears has amassed 1,003 points in 86 games. The senior from Franklin, Tenn., broke the 1,000-point plateau with a 3-pointer at the 7:51 mark that gave Covenant a 50-40 lead. Sears was a perfect 6-of-6 from 3-point territory.
Rosbie Mutcherson had seven first half points and 11 for the game, while Colton McGriff and Jon DeVries each chipped in 10 points. Sam Bowman totaled 11 rebounds and T.J. Cox handed out five assists.
In a sloppy first half, Covenant would lead by as many as 13 points before Hiwassee closed the gap before halftime. The Scots took a 26-17 advantage into the locker room.
Hiwassee started the second half on a 7-1 scoring run, capped by a Joel Bailey layup, to cut the Scots' lead to 28-24. Covenant would regain a nine-point edge on a Sears 3-pointer that made it 40-31 with 13:47 left.
Kaseem Davidson's jumper with 10:05 left again shrunk the Covenant lead to two points at 42-40. Again, Covenant had the answer as Sears' 1,000-point breaking 3-pointer capped a quick 8-0 run that put the Scots up 50-40 with just under eight minutes left.
Hiwassee would get as close as four again, but Covenant made plays down the stretch to secure the victory.
Justin Browner and Howie Meadows each had 13 points to lead Hiwassee. Jeff Golden scored seven points and pulled down 11 rebounds. The Tigers shot 35.8 percent (19-53) from the field.
Covenant was 24-of-50 (48 percent) from the field and 6-of-12 from downtown, all made 3s coming from Sears. The Scots had a slight rebounding edge 35-33 and finished 14-of-19 from the foul line.
The Scots return to play on Tuesday, January 8 at home against Rhodes. Tip-time is set for 5 p.m.
