After leading by a point at halftime, the Covenant men's basketball team succumbed to an offensive explosion from host Maryville in a 95-59 loss at Boydson Baird Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
Covenant (6-4, 2-1 USA South) entered the contest as one of three undefeated teams in USA South play, with Maryville (7-3, 4-0 USA South) as one of the other teams.
Berto Dryden was the only Covenant player in double figures as he scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Patjo Twagirayezu scored all nine of his points in the first half, but he and the rest of the Covenant offense was stymied in the final 20 minutes.
Covenant had a 38-37 halftime lead, but had to rally back from a double digit deficit in the period. The visiting Scots trailed 18-7 before going on a 17-5 scoring run over a span of five-plus minutes to take a 24-23 lead. James Mitchell capped the comeback with back-to-back 3-pointers giving Covenant the one-point lead.
The teams would trade leads for the remainder of the half before Covenant gained a one-point lead at the break following a Dryden driving layup in the final seconds of the half.
The second half was all Maryville, however. Maryville shot 57.5 percent from the field in the final stanza and started the period on a 14-1 run to take a 51-39 lead at the 16:31 mark. The host Scots would lead by double digits the rest of the way, with its largest lead being the final margin.
Colt Nokes had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead three players in double figure scoring for Maryville. Calvin Songster had 15 points and Emier Bowman added 13 points. Maryville finished 49.4 percent (38-of-77) from the field and held a 53-39 rebounding edge. Maryville used 19 offensive boards for 20 second chance points.
Covenant connected on 34.9 percent (22-of-63) from the floor. Caleb Haynes added six points and five rebounds and Mitchell ended with six points in the loss.
Covenant will return to Barnes PE Center on Saturday against USA South foe Huntingdon. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.