Maryville, TN - In the final conference contest of the regular season for the Piedmont College men's basketball team, the Lions ended with a bang knocking off Maryville College 73-67. Piedmont won both matchups against the Scots this season after winning on a buzzer beater in Cave Arena and putting away the Scots on the road Wednesday.

This marks the first time the Lions have swept the Scots in the NCAA era dating back to the 2003-04 season.

The Scots were the first on the board and led 5-0 early in the contest and by as many as 10 at 13-3 nearly five minutes into the game. JUSTIN VALLEJO hit a big time shot from 3-point land to try and give the Lions a boost making it 13-6.

Piedmont struggled to keep pace with Maryville early as they still trailed by nine points with 7:30 on the clock till halftime, but following that, the Lions made a run knocking down seven points to cut it to 24-22 with 5:34 to play.

Maryville hit five straight of their own to open up their lead but with 2:23 to go, DANIEL MCCRAVY hit a free throw sparking an eight point run by the Lions to put them on top 33-31 at the half. CHASE ENGLAND hit a shot from beyond the arc to tie it at 31 and BRIAN EDWARDS gave Piedmont its first lead with 0:44 remaining in the half.

It was a tight contest in the opening minutes of the first half as these teams battled back and forth, matching nearly point-for-point. With 15:57 to go, JESSIE JENKINS started another run for the Lions as they connected for nine straight to extend the lead to 11 points at 51-40 after England made another 3-pointer.

Piedmont led by as many as 12 during the second half and never let the Scots closer than six points until just over 7:00 remained and Maryville cut it to a five point game after Spencer Peake hit a pair of free throws.

The Lions built their lead back to 11 after a 6-0 run and led by 12 points with only 50 seconds to go at 71-59. The Scots hoped lady luck was on their side after they hit two 3-pointers and made a layup after a PC turnover to make it merely a five point game. Those, however, were the last points of the night for the homestanding Scots.

In the first meeting this season, Piedmont was able to hold the Scots' leading scorer Jaumonee Byrd in check with only nine total points, but allowed Byrd to score 17 Wednesday. Maryville's leading rebounder, Oscar Butler, who is second in the league averaging 7.8 rebounds a game, reeled in a team-high 8 rebounds.

Piedmont shot better than 48% from field goal range going 26-of-54 and hit 6-of-15 from beyond the arc (40%). The Lions outrebounded the Scots 45 to 30 as Piedmont has outrebounded its opponent in all but four contests this year.

The Lions now move to 8-6 in the USA South and currently sit at 8-6 in the league behind Averett and William Peace. This weekend wraps up the final USA South games of the season with two contests on Sunday, and following those games, the tournament bracket will be set.

Piedmont is set to wrap up the season out of conference taking on local rival Toccoa Falls inside Cave Arena. Tipoff for the final contest of the regular season is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.