Box Score

Demorest, GA -- The Piedmont College men's basketball team had the halftime lead but couldn't hang on to defeat Covenant College as the visiting Scots claimed a 73-65 victory over the home Lions.  PC took a 15 point lead twice in the first half but let its slim two point halftime advantage slip away in the second half to fall to the Scots by eight.

After a back-and-forth three minutes to open the action, Piedmont dominated the run of the ball for most of the first half taking going on a 9-0 run to take a 19-11 lead with 13:45 left to play in the opening half.  The end of that nine point run including the first of three straight three-pointers from junior Josh Haymore as the Gainesville native connected on a trio of tri-fectas over a 1:45 span to give the Lions a 12 point first half lead at the 11:52 mark.

Though Piedmont's first half lead climbed as high as 15 points, Covenant began to knock down their own tries from downtown to creep closer until finally the visitors had pulled within two at the half.  After the intermission, Covenant tied the game up at 39-39 only a few seconds into the second half on a Scot layup.

However, it wasn't until the 9:36 mark of the second half that Covenant would take the lead for good after PC had gone cold missing its previous five shots from the field.  The Lions would continue to struggle down the stretch putting up only 14 points from that point forward dropping the eventual 73-65 decision to the Scots splitting the season series with their in-state rival.

Leading the team with 16 points was sophomore Michael Ross who shot 50% from the field and from beyond the three-point arc.  Tonight's game was the eighth time this season that Ross has been the top scorer for PC although the Lions own only a 3-5 record in those eight games.

Junior Josh Haymore was hot early from downtown knocking down four of his first five attempts from distance in the first half on the way to 14 total points.  The guard also dished out four assists on the night finishing as a 50% shooter from the field.

Freshman point guard Will Skaggs grabbed five more assists to go with his nine total points for the game while senior Daniel Lampl also chipped in nine on four of seven shooting.  Newcomer Kevin Kubandi threw in eight points to the effort connecting on two of his four tries from downtown.

The loss drops PC to 7-10 overall on the 2010-11 season.  The squad will look to rebound when they host the Scots of Maryville College on Saturday, January 22 in a battle for first place in the Great South Athletic Conference.  Tip-off is set for 4:00 in the Cave.