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Demorest, GA -- Behind a balanced scoring attack that saw five players reach double figures the Piedmont College men's basketball team evened the season series with Rust College this afternoon at Cave Arena by the score of 84-75. The Lions improve to 8-1 on the season when scoring at least 80 points and move to 5-2 at home.

The men jumped out with the first eight points of the game but saw the visiting Bearcats answer minutes later with a 14-2 run over the course of five minutes to take a five-point advantage. Trailing 29-23 with eight minutes left the Lions exploded with a 20-7 run to end the half connecting on 8-13 (62%) shots from the floor.

Just like the first play of the game senior Michael Rubio opened the action with a tri-fecta to increase the margin to 10 points. The Bearcats chipped away at the lead and tied the score for the final time with nine minutes remaining.

Holding on to a 59-58 lead sophomore Mike Chatman canned a pair of threes to increase the margin to seven points. The Lions would lead by as many as 11 down the stretch and claimed the nine-point victory.

PC's depth was proven as the men held the advantage off the bench 34-18. The Lions connected on 44% of their shots from behind the arc and hit 20-24 (83%) from the charity stripe.

Chatman and Rubio led all scorers with 19 points respectively and nine combined assists. Tyler Arnold added 13 points while Sam Coppage and #J.C. Herebia# added 11 and 10 points apiece.

The victory extends the current winning streak to three games and moves Piedmont to 11-6 overall. The men will remain at home to take on Johnson Bible College on Thursday, January 28th with tip-off scheduled for 7:00.