Need to Know
Score: Piedmont 87, Toccoa Falls 75
Records: Lions 2-1, Screaming Eagles 2-5
Location: Demorest, GA - Cave Arena

Demorest, GA - Blazing out of the locker room to a 25-5 lead before the first media timeout, the Piedmont College men's basketball team never relinquished control on Saturday afternoon en route to an 87-75 victory at home in front of a raucous crowd in Cave Arena.

With the Lions having built a 20-point lead in the opening 6:19 of the contest, Toccoa never was able to recover from the early flurry by Piedmont who was playing at home for the first time on the season and clearly fed off the energy from the Cave Crazies.

The Eagles had pulled to within 14 at the half capitalizing on PC turnovers, 25 points off 17 takeaways on the afternoon. Toccoa also rattled off seven straight to start the second half, but a dagger three-pointer from CHASE ENGLAND quieted the visitors who had made the short 30-minute trek over with Piedmont reassuming control down the stretch. 

Piedmont shot just over 46% from the field on the afternoon in the 12-point win while the Eagles hit on just under 34%.  Each team had four in double figures with Piedmont's TRAE GAINES, CHASE ENGLAND, CHRIS MEEKS, and JUSTIN VALLEJO accounting for 50 of the team's 87 points on the afternoon.

Turning Point
--CHASE ENGLAND's 2nd half 3-pointer that stopped a 7-0 run by Toccoa Falls to start the period and settled the Lions in for the win down the stretch.

Standout Performances
--JUSTIN VALLEJO's double-double as he tallied 18 points on 9-of-14 shooting and also grabbed 11 rebounds on the day to lead Piedmont in both categories.
--CHASE ENGLAND who poured in 14 points of his own coming up just two boards shy of his own double-double performance.  

Inside the Box Score
--Piedmont outscored Toccoa by 14 in the paint which proved to be just two points more than the final difference in the game.  
--Today was PC's best shooting performance of the season as the Lions hit on 45.1% from the floor while also hitting on a season-high 80% from the charity stripe. 
--In Piedmont's previous two contests of the season, the Lions shot right around 60% from the free throw line.

News & Notes
--The Lions' JUSTIN VALLEJO picked up a double-double in today's action, the fourth of his career after he posted three last season on the way to USA South Rookie of the Year honors.

Up Next
The Lions jump into conference play traveling to Montgomery, Alabama to take on the Hawks of Huntingdon College on Tuesday, November 24.  Tip-off is set for 6:00 pm ET, 5:00 pm CT.  

How to Follow
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