SEWANEE, Tenn. -- The Covenant men's basketball team erased a nine-point deficit in the final two minutes of play, but Sewanee's Clay Born made a jumper with 2.6 seconds left to give the host Tigers a 62-60 win over the Scots on Tuesday night inside Juhan Gymnasium.
Z Arima had a career-high 14 points for Covenant (3-2) and grabbed three rebounds. Berto Dryden added 11 points, three assists and four steals, while Bailey Spragg recorded 10 points and three steals. Zack Allen scored nine points off the bench.
Covenant led 43-36 after completing a 10-0 scoring run with a 3-pointer from Arima with 9:25 left in the second half. Sewanee answered with a run of its own as the Tigers outscored the Scots 16-2 over the next three minutes to go ahead 52-45 after a Jorden Williams 3-pointer.
The lead for Sewanee got to nine at 60-51 with 2:27 remaining, but Covenant had one more run left. Patjo Twagirayezu started the rally with a jumper to make it 60-53 at the two-minute mark. The Scots forced the Tigers into three straight turnovers and converted those into a 3-pointer from Arima and a Dryden layup to cut the deficit to 60-58 with 45 ticks left.
Sewanee missed two free throws on its next possession and Arima would knot the score at 60 apiece with a driving layup with 10 seconds left. Born drove to the basket before stopping to connect on a short jumper with 2.6 second left giving Sewanee a 62-60 lead. After a Covenant timeout, the Scots got one last look, but Twagirayezu's long 3-point attempt was off the mark.
Both teams struggled in the opening half. Covenant shot just 37.9 percent in the half, but was behind by only four at the half at 27-23. Dryden and Spragg each had six points in the first 20 minutes and five of Allen's nine points came in the opening stanza.
Covenant shot 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the floor, but made just four 3-pointers. The Scots forced 24 turnovers and scored 26 points off those takeaways.
Born led Sewanee (4-1) with 14 points and four rebounds. Brody Stone added 13 points and seven rebounds, while Williams had 12 points. The Tigers overcame their turnover woes by shooting 54.5 percent (24-of-44) from the field with six 3-pointers and a 33-20 rebound edge.
UP NEXT
Covenant will be off until Tuesday, Dec. 6 when it hosts Oglethorpe. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m., or 25 minutes after the women's basketball contest vs. Oglethorpe which begins at 5:30.
CONNECT WITH THE SCOTS
Be sure to follow the Scots all season long on athletics.covenant.edu and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date scores, news and other information. To receive text alerts with score updates or e-newsletters, click here
