GALLATIN, Tenn. - Covenant ended its nonconference slate last night with a trip to Welch, looking for its second win of the year over the Flames. The Scots led for most of the game, but it was the Flames who made the plays down the stretch to squeeze out a two-point win. 

Final: Covenant 88, Welch 90
Records: Covenant (7-10), Welch (4-17)

FIRST HALF:

• Behind its strong defensive pressure, Covenant raced out to a 7-0 lead in the first 90 seconds of the game. 
• Colt Donley knocked down a pair of triples for the Scots to extend their lead to 18-9. 
• The Scots stayed in front by nine points with baskets from Logan Patterson and Kaleb Lofton with 9:35 remaining. 
• Patterson buried a triple to push Covenant's lead to double-digits at 32-21. 
• Patterson and Lofton delivered again with a pair of baskets to push the lead to 13 points with 3:09 left in the half. 
• The two teams traded baskets for the final three minutes as Covenant led 49-36 at the break.

SECOND HALF:

• Welch scored the first five points out of halftime before using an 11-2 run a few minutes later to cut Covenant's lead to 56-54. 
• Covenant started to find its rhythm again as it used an 8-0 run to move up 68-58. 
• The scrappy Flames kept responding though as an inside basket cut Covenant's lead to 70-67 midway through the half. 
• With both teams going back-and-forth, an Ethan Parker 3-pointer put the Scots up 77-73. 
• Back-to-back 3-pointers for Welch gave it its first lead of the night at 82-79 with 4:13 remaining. 
• Covenant battled back using a 3-pointer from Patterson and four points from Smith to move ahead 86-85.
• Yielded by a pair of late turnovers from the Scots, the Flames made five free throws down the stretch to earn the win. 

GAME NOTES: 

• Covenant moves to 3-5 all-time against Welch.
• Patterson led Covenant with a career-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting. 
• Donley was also in double-figures for the Scots with 15 points. 
• Smith flirted with a double-double scoring eight points and grabbing nine rebounds. He also had three blocks. 
• Draven Smith for Welch led all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 11-of-14 at the line. 
• Covenant was 40% (32-80) from the field and 34.5% (10-29) shooting 3-pointers while Welch was 46% (29-63) and 37% (10-27) in the same categories. 

UP NEXT: Covenant returns to its home court on Tuesday, Feb. 4th for a conference game with Asbury scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. 

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