Need to Know
Score: Piedmont 86, Maryville 63
Records: Lions 11-8 (4-5 USA South), Scots 12-8 (3-6 USA South)
Location: Demorest, Georgia - Cave Arena

Demorest, GA  - In their largest victory in conference play this season, the Piedmont College men's basketball team showed out with an 86-63 victory at home Wednesday night against Maryville.

Maryville did not hit a shot from the field in the opening 4:22 of the game as Piedmont would hold the Scots to a similar scoreless stretch in the second half as well with the Lions putting in one of their best defensive performances of the season.  PC raced out to an 8-0 lead over the first four-plus minutes of the contest and held a 43-38 lead at the break never relinquishing its grip on the lead throughout the night. 

In the second half, the Lions did not allow Maryville to connect on a field goal from the 18:27 mark to the 12:43 mark taking control for good during that stretch sparked by a PEYTON LUKEN three-pointer from the corner.  Luken's three put Piedmont up seven but the lead would ballon to 15 before the midway point of the period as the Lions outscored the Scots 43-25 in the second half alone.

The star of the night was ironically enough was the same from the last time these two programs met in Cave Arena as it was then-sophomore TRAE GAINES that hit a 40-foot buzzer beater to hand Piedmont a win over its conference rival, a play that made its way onto the pages at ESPN.com and was a nominee for the GEICO Play of the Year.

Now a junior for Head Coach Greg Neeley, Gaines looked the part of the savvy veteran tonight as "Mr. Big Shot" rose up to hit on eight of his nine field goal tries missing only once with that off-target effort rattling out from three-point land.  Gaines led all scorers with 22 points on a night that saw the Lions pull away to win big late with the 86-63 victory over Maryville.

Piedmont held Maryville to just 25% shooting from the field on the night while hitting on better than 52% itself as the Lions' top three scorers combined to go 18-of-26 from the field and 8-of-13 from downtown.  The Lions were also fierce on the boards out-rebounding MC 52-36 on the night.

Turning Point
--An 11-1 run beginning at the 12:27 mark in the second half helped Piedmont seal the deal as they held the Scots to just 25 points in the second half. 

Standout Performances
--TRAE GAINES was lights-out shooting the ball hitting on 8-of-9 from the floor with his only miss coming from 3-point land as he led all scorers with his 22 on the night.
--PEYTON LUKEN totaled 15 points on 6-of-13 from the field hitting three tri-fectas as well including a key three-ball just under two minutes into the second half that held off the Scots.
--JUSTIN VALLEJO was 4-of-4 from the floor with ten points as the third Lion in double figures with a three-pointer to his credit as well.

Inside the Box Score
--Gaines also pulled down ten rebounds for the double-double on the evening and his first such performance of the season setting a new single-game high in rebounding with the ten.
--CHRIS MEEKS was a monster on the boards tying a season high with 14 rebounds on the evening as the senior from Savannah, Georgia continues to lead the league in that category with 8.9 rebounds per contest.

News & Notes
--The last time Maryville played Piedmont in Cave Arena, TRAE GAINES hit a 40' buzzer beater to lead the Lions to a 63-61 victory in January 2015.
--With the Piedmont women's basketball team defeating the Scots earlier in the evening as well, Piedmont picks up its first sweep of Maryville in men's and women's basketball on the same evening since doing so back on January 31, 2010.
--On that night back in 2010, the Lions needed OT to knock off the Scots 80-78 with now current Head Coach Greg Neeley serving as an Assistant Coach on the Piedmont men's basketball coaching staff back then.
--The 23-point win is the largest win for Piedmont in the 26-game series with Maryville in PC's NCAA Era (dating back to 2003-04) with the previous high coming in a six-point win over the Scots in the last meeting between the two back in February of 2015.

Up Next
Piedmont continues a 3-game home stretch with a game on Saturday against Bob Jones University. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. against the Bruins with live video and stats coverage provided courtesy of the Mane Event Broadcasting Network with WCON Radio providing a simulcast over the airwaves as well. 

How to Follow
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