LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Senior Day. A career milestone achieved. A USA South West Division won.

Will Crumly scored 20 points, and achieved 2,000 career points in the process, and the Covenant men's basketball team throttled No. 14-ranked Maryville, 73-52, to clinch the No. 1 West seed on Saturday afternoon inside Barnes PE Center.

Covenant (16-6, 10-2 USA South) finishes in a three-way tie for first in the USA South West Division and will have the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament via tiebreaker. The Scots will host No. 4 West seed Brevard on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Should the Scots win, Covenant will host the semifinals and championship on Feb. 25-26.

On Senior Day, it was Crumly who stole the show in the first half. The graduate dropped 16 first-half points and his 3-pointer with 6:47 left in the first propelled him over 2,000 career points and gave the Scots a 26-15 lead.

Crumly is the fourth player in program history to achieve the milestone. He also notched 11 rebounds with his 20 points for his 28th career double-double.

It was Covenant's second win over a ranked opponent this season (Emory on Dec. 7). The Scots were thorough in their dominance on Saturday.

Promise Igbanu had 19 points with six assists and five rebounds, while Chris Barnette added a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds with three assists. Covenant limited Maryville (20-3, 10-2 USA South) to 35.8 percent (19-of-53) from the field and outrebounded the visitors 44-30, with a 17-2 edge in second-chance points.

Covenant used a 12-3 run in the first half to build a 13-point lead. Crumly's 3-pointer was part of that stretch and his layup capped the run with 5:04 left in the half. The Scots increased the margin to 15 (39-24) at the break.

Covenant never relinquished its double-digit lead in the second half. The Scots led by as many as 25 late in the game.

Barnette, Crumly, Brady Palmer, and Jackson Fitzgerald were honored before the game. Palmer added three points and Fitzgerald had six rebounds. Jonathan Gernatt came off the bench to score seven points with six rebounds.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE GAME

Career points No. 2000, 2001, and 2002 for Will Crumly!#WeAreTheScots #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/Y3RH9SKbtW

— Covenant Scots (@CovenantScots) February 19, 2022

 

UP NEXT

Covenant will host Brevard in the first round of the USA South Tournament on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.).

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