Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College men's basketball team could not keep up the pace of their first half start in a 73-67 loss to Averett University earlier today on the road.  

The Lions scored 52 in the first half, but were limited to just 15 points in the second half as the Cougars erased what was more than a 20-point first half deficit to hand Piedmont its second straight loss in conference play. 

Three Lions were in double figures including PEYTON LUKEN who tallied 18 on 6-of-11 shooting from the field connecting on four of his six tries from distance.  

PC also doubled the Cougars in the turnover column, a major factor in the Sunday afternoon loss.  The Lions gave it away 15 times while Averett limited their own to just seven as the Cougars earned 16 points off takeaways with nine coming in the second half sweep. 

Piedmont dominated much of the opening period starting on a 12-4 run capped by five straight points from veteran JESSIE JENKINS who scored all ten of his points on the afternoon in the first half.  The Cougars were also held to just 16 points over the first 12 minutes of the game by the stubborn Lions' defense though the home team would tighten up their own defensive end before the day was out. 

Averett's start showed the rust of a team who had not played in four days while PC was coming off a road challenge at Ferrum on Friday and came out on fire in the first half of the Sunday contest vs. the Cougars.

Despite trailing by 21 with just under eight minutes to play in the first, Averett would make a run to get back in it before the break scoring 23 of its 39 first-half points in the final seven minutes of the half.  After the surge from the home team, Piedmont held 13-point lead (52-39) after a PEYTON LUKEN jumper in the closing seconds as the Lions struggled during the Averett run before the intermission.

The rest of the day then belonged to the well-rested Cougars as Averett, despite shooting under 10% from distance in the second half, put the clamps down on the Lions defensively with Piedmont being held to just 15 total points in the 2nd 20 minutes, 13 of which came in the final nine minutes of the half.  

PC did not hit a field goal in the second half until CHRIS MEEKS connected on a try at the 9:00 mark while Averett started on a 18-2 run to erase a 13-point halftime deficit.  Piedmont's red-hot first half shooting that saw the Lions connect on better than 60% from the field and 80% from 3-point land did not provide enough cushion for a big drop in the 2nd half as the Lions shot just over 13% from the field and missed all six 3-point attempts in the final period. 

With Averett overtaking the Lions near the midway point, Piedmont was able to keep in the game closing to within one on a drive-and-score from top scorer PEYTON LUKEN as his bucket with 18 seconds left put PC down 68-67.  However, Averett scored the final five points of the contest hitting on three of four free throws to close out the Piedmont rally and hand PC its second straight conference loss after a 3-1 start in league play.

The Lions will host Covenant College for a mid-week contest in their next action as the Scots come to town this Wednesday, January 28 for a 5:30 pm showdown.  The matchup is the first of two for PC against Covenant as the Lions will travel to Lookout Mountain on February 11.

The Covenant game will be carried live on the Mane Event Broadcasting Network and on WCON radio with the pre-game show starting at 5:00 pm on WCON radio.