The Covenant men's basketball team rallied from an 11-point deficit late in the second half and then hung on in overtime to defeat William Peace 84-82 in a key USA South matchup on Saturday afternoon inside Barnes PE Center.
Covenant (9-10, 3-6 USA South) trailed 69-58 with 5:07 remaining in regulation. Jared Jauch hit a 3-pointer on the next Scots possession and Berto Dryden hit 3-pointers on consecutive trips to draw Covenant to within 70-67 with 3:15 left. Down five with just over a minute to go, Bailey Spragg drained a 3-pointer to make it 73-71 with 1:05 remaining.
Covenant held William Peace on the ensuing possession and the Scots tied the score at 73 with 31 ticks left on a pair of Caleb Haynes free throws.
William Peace ran the clock down, but Chris Thomas missed a deep jumper as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Over the last five minutes of regulation, Covenant outscored the visiting Pacers 15-4.
Haynes gave the Scots a two-point lead in the overtime on a layup, assisted by Dryden, with 4:25 left. Haynes and Patjo Twagirayezu had back-to-back baskets with over a minute left to bring the Covenant lead to 80-75. The Pacers cut the lead to 81-79 on a steal and layup from Jay Hicks and, after two made free throws from Dryden, Ryan Emfinger made a 3-pointer to slice the Scots' margin to 83-82 with four seconds left. Haynes was fouled on the next possession and made 1-of-2 at the line with two seconds to go, but the Pacers would not be able to get a shot off before the horn sounded.
Twagirayezu led all scorers with a career-high 26 points on 12-of-20 shooting. Haynes collected his first career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Dryden had 12 points and five assists, while Spragg added 10 points and two assists. Will Portlock chipped in six points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Covenant shot 52.4 percent (33-of-63) from the floor with 10 3-pointers and 14 assists.
William Peace (10-8, 3-4 USA South) had five players score in double figures led by Chris Thomas' 20 points and eight rebounds. Emfinger had 13 points, Jalen Vince 12 points and five assists, Hicks, 11 and John Burwell 10. Willie Herring had a team-high nine rebounds. The Pacers were 30-of-67 (44.8 percent) from the field and held a 36-34 rebounding edge.
Covenant will step out of conference on Tuesday to face Sewanee. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at Barnes PE Center
.
Visiting LaGrange shot 48.4 percent from the field and used that hot stroke to defeat the Covenant women's basketball team 74-50 on Saturday evening in USA South action.
Joanna Smith led Covenant (8-10, 2-6 USA South) with 18 points and seven rebounds, but the Scots managed to connect on just 36.4 percent (20-of-55) from the floor for the game. Emma Grimes scored eight points and Aleigha Williams had seven points and two assists in the loss.
Covenant started strong as the Scots surged to an 8-2 lead in the first two minutes of the contest. Grimes made a 3-pointer on the opening possession and Kaley Hallmark followed with a triple of her own to make it 6-0. Hallmark added a driving layup on the next trip to give the Scots an 8-2 lead. But LaGrange quickly got back in the game and would lead 18-13 after the first period.
The visiting Panthers then took a commanding lead in the second quarter as Covenant shot just 25 percent in the period. LaGrange scored the final 10 points of the quarter to take a 39-20 lead into halftime. The lead swelled to 25 for LaGrange in the third period and the Panthers would lead by double digits the rest of the way.
Kelsey Walthall led a trio of LaGrange (10-9, 5-4 USA South) with 10 points each to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Marilauren Farr and Jeris Johnson also scored 10 points apiece for the Panthers. LaGrange shot 48.4 percent (30-of-62) for the game with eight 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
Covenant hosts USA South West-leading Maryville on Tuesday at Barnes PE Center. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.