In the second Great South Athletic Conference game of the year the Piedmont College men's basketball team fell to visiting LaGrange College by the score of 85-80 tonight at Cave Arena. The Lions rallied from an early deficit but fell just short in the waining minutes and dropped the five-point decision.

The Panthers came out on fire and opened the game on a 16-3 run over the first five minutes. With six minutes to go in the first half and LC leading 26-16, the Lions posted a 16-6 run to tie the score as MICHAEL RUBIO hit a tri-fecta and an old fashioned three-point play drawing a foul on a fast break layup.

LC retook by as many as five but Rubio struck again with less than a second remaining with three consecutive hits from the charity stripe to send the Lions into the locker room trailing by only one.

In a second half that featured 10 lead changes and nine ties PC held its largest lead at 63-57 with 11 minutes remaining. The Panthers rallied to tie the score 71-71 and then retook the lead for good with a jumper in the paint. Piedmont cut the margin to 81-80 with a minute remaining but the Panthers iced the game with four consecutive free throws to walk away with the victory.

The Lions placed four players in double figures led by Sam Coppage and JUSTIN RUSH who notched 15 points apiece. Rubio closely followed with 14 while J.C. HEREBIA posted 11. LC's Joe Cromwell led all scorers with 20 points while Deji Adako tallied a double double with 12 points and 10 boards.

Piedmont now stands at 6-11 overall and 0-2 in the Great South. The men will return to action again on Sunday, January 25th as they host Rust College at Cave Arena tipping off at 2:00.