Box Score

Maryville, TN -- The Piedmont College men's basketball team rolled to a 82-77 win over Great South Athletic Conference member Maryville College earlier this afternoon in the Scots' home gym. It was PC's first half shooting mark of 60% that propelled the Lions to their second conference victory of the season as the visitors were eight of 14 from downtown in the first half compared to the Scots who did not connect from three-point land in the opening period (0-7).

PC got it going early and often against its conference foe leading for the first nine minutes of the road contest twice opening up leads of seven points on a Kevin Kubandi layup and a pair of Kyle Lundberg free throws. However, Maryville would continue to keep the Lions at bay tying the game up before taking a two-point lead at the 9:50 mark of the first half.

The Scots would not be in the driver's seat long as Piedmont went on a 23-6 run over the final 8:21 of the half that included six three-point buckets four of which came from the hot hand of junior Josh Haymore. That dominant stretch gave Piedmont a 17 point lead at the break 50-33 as the Lions connected on eight of their 13 tries from the field in that 23-6 stretch to end the first half.

When the two teams came out for the second half, the Scots looked determined not to go down without a fight and gave Piedmont just that gradually cutting into the visiting team's advantage that at one point was as high as 21 points in the second half. After a furious comeback staged by MC that put the Scots down just one with 2:13 to play at 75-74, Piedmont needed a Michael Ross three-pointer to push the lead back up to four points holding off the Scots from taking the lead in the second half for the first time.

Maryville answered with their own three-point bucket cutting the PC lead back down to one at 78-77 just seconds later. However, it was then time for young Will Skaggs to shine as the freshman point guard stepped up to calmly hit three of his next four tries from the charity stripe to put PC up 81-77 with just 16 seconds remaining.

After a Maryville field goal try clanked off the back of the rim, Haymore would grab the rebound and hit a free throw to put the team up by what turned out the margin of five points. The Scots' final try from the field would also go awry as Piedmont held off the home team comeback to win 82-77.

For Piedmont, the victory snaps a two-game losing streak to their conference rivals and moves the season series to an even 1-1 between the GSAC foes. The Lions also gain their second victory over the Scots in the overall series between the two that dates back to the 2000-01 season as PC is the only GSAC team to have defeated Maryville over the last five seasons.

Haymore once again led the Lions in the scoring department with his 22 total points shooting seven of 12 from the field. Having led PC in scoring in four of the team's last five games including a pair of 30 plus performances, Haymore took all 12 of his shots from beyond three-point range tacking on his final point on a free throw with seconds remaining in the game.

The freshman Skaggs contributed 17 points in the winning effort including three clutch points from the free throw line with the Lions' lead in doubt late. The Ashland, KY native shot 50% from the field (6-of-12) while dishing out a half dozen helpers and pulling down seven boards.

Veteran guard Daniel Lampl scored 16 points on six of nine shooting from the field to help lead PC to its second conference victory of the season. Leading the team in rebounding for the 19th time season was junior forward Tracey Gardner who grabbed eight boards to go with his six points.

The victory moves the Lions to 9-15 overall and 2-3 in conference play. Piedmont now will have the chance to at least tie for second place in the GSAC standings with a victory over the Hawks of Huntingdon College who visit the Cave on Saturday, February 19 for a 4:00 showdown in the season finale.