In the first full winter season in nearly two years, the Covenant men’s basketball team built its seventh consecutive winning season and set a program-record for winning percentage.
Under fifth-year head coach Neal Young, the Scots finished as the USA South West Division regular season champions (tied with Maryville and LaGrange) after producing a 18-7 overall record and going 10-2 in conference play.
Covenant opened the season with two home victories over Asbury and Centre. The home wins set off another strong year inside Barnes PE Center as the Scots went 11-3.
The squad produced several big wins, including two over nationally-ranked opponents.
Late heroics from senior standout Chris Barnette helped the Scots to an overtime victory over No. 23 Emory (69-58). Covenant also soundly defeated No. 14 Maryville at home to cap the regular season (73-52).
Covenant had a seven-game winning streak to end the regular season, six of which were over conference opponents, earning them the No. 1 West seed in the USA South Tournament.
After defeating Brevard in the first round (78-49), the Scots earned a spot in the championship game after overcoming a 14-point deficit in the second half to take down No. 2 East seed N.C. Wesleyan in the semifinals, 58-53.
In the USA South Tournament championship, graduate Will Crumly led the way with 32 points, but the winning would stop there for the Scots, as No. 1 East seed Averett would take a 76-63 victory, ending a nine-game win streak.
The team was led by Barnette and Crumly, who both had historic seasons. Barnette notched his 1,000th career point and led the conference in 3-point percentage (47.2). Crumly led the team in scoring and rebounding for the fourth consecutive year, ending his Covenant career with 2,082 points (4th in program history).
Crumly also became just the fourth player in program history to reach 2,000 career points. The fifth-year player achieved the milestone against Maryville in the regular season finale.
