Box Score Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College men's basketball team was unable to put the visiting Scots of Maryville College out of their comfort zone as the USA South leaders rolled to an 81-49 decision over PC.  The Lions trailed by just nine at half, but saw the visitors pull away in the second as the Scots scored 49 of their 81 points in the final 20 minutes of the USA South contest.

In the early going, the game looked to be slipping away early from the Lions who fell behind 10-2 after the first four minutes.  Piedmont clawed back in though scoring nine of the next 11 points as a Chris Meeks old-fashioned three-point play put the Lions down just three at 14-11 with 12:12 left in the first. 

Moments later, a Safari Smith bucket in the paint made it a one point game as the Lions threatened to take the lead for the first time on the night.  However, Maryville's Spencer Shoffner answered the run with one of his five three-pointers on the night to put his team back up four as he scored all but one of his field goals from distance on the evening.

The Lions worked to keep it close though despite the lights out shooting from Shoffner as they used a pair of Safari Smith free throws to make it a 32-23 deficit at halftime keeping the pace to what they wanted.  However, in the second half, the Scots got out and ran putting Piedmont in a situation where they were forced to score but managed just 26 points to 49 from Maryville in the final period.

After trailing by single digits to end the first half, Piedmont slipped behind by 23 as the home team scored only two points over the first 8:18 of the second half while Maryville rattled off 15 points in the same time, the final six of which came on back-to-back threes by Craig Raye.  The Lions fell back by 30 with just over four minutes remaining as the game was decided by the offensive performance of Maryville in the second half as the Scots took the eventual 81-49 victory away from home.

Piedmont was led in scoring by Safari Smith who was the only Lion in double figures as nine different players scored for the home team in the loss to the Scots.  Seven of Safari's 11 came at the free throw line as he shot 50% (2-of-4) from the field. 

Freshman Peyton Luken came up just one assist shy of his career high with five helpers on the night, accounting for all but one of Piedmont's six assists.  Maryville tallied 18 assists as a team on the evening moving the ball around quickly to find their three point shooters who went a combined nine for 26 from downtown.

Chris Meeks and Chase England led the team with their six rebounds apiece while senior Aaron Thrams had four boards including a pair in the opening minutes.

The Lions will wrap up the USA South portion of their 2013-14 schedule tomorrow night when they play host to Covenant College.  Piedmont took the first meeting between the two when the Lions came down from Lookout Mountain with a 78-70 victory just prior to the arrival of Winter Storm Pax, which dumped nine inches of snow on the Cornelia area and forced the rescheduled game set for tomorrow night.

The February 20th matchup with Covenant is set to tip at 7:30 pm. Live coverage will be provided courtesy of the Mane Event Broadcasting Network.  Eliminated from contention to reach the USA South postseason, the Lions will wrap up their regular season with a finale against Toccoa Falls College on Saturday, February 22nd with a 7:00 pm game.