The Covenant men's basketball team resumed play on Tuesday night against Welch after a short break for Thanksgiving. The Scots offense ran rampant on the Flames, scoring a season-high 109 points to earn the victory, 109-99.
Covenant came out of the gate as the aggressor with nine consecutive points to start the night capped off by a triple from Adam Deininger. The Flames slowly climbed their way back in the game as a fast break layup with 12:05 remaining put them in the lead at 19-18.
The Scots went back on top at 25-22 after another triple by Deininger and a steal turned easy basket by Gus Hood. Covenant remained in front at 39-35 with 4:24 left in the half as Luuk Dusek knocked down three free throws in a row as a result of being fouled while shooting a triple.
With Welch leading by one point, Covenant ended the half on a 7-2 run with Reece Pride getting an inside basket with 13 seconds remaining to put the score at 50-46.
In the second half, at the first media timeout, Covenant was still in front at 61-56 with its last points coming off a transition layup from Kaleb Lofton. The Scots and Flames continued to play at a fast pace as a layup from Thomas Malcom kept Covenant ahead 74-69.
Malcolm got out in transition and finished at the rim with 9:06 remaining that put Covenant up double-digits for the first time at 84-74. The Flames responded with a 10-2 scoring run to cut the Covenant lead back to just two points.
Less than two minutes later, Covenant's lead was back to 10 points at 94-84, thanks to an 8-0 scoring run started by a fast break basket from Pride. The Scots sealed the game with a 9-1 run highlighted by blocks from Pierce Smith and Hood that led to their team getting in transition. Welch buried a triple with seven seconds left, but it was too little too late as Covenant sealed the 10-point win.
Covenant moves to 3-4 all-time against Welch. Patterson once again led Covenant in scoring with 16 points and three assists.. Scoring 12 points was Donley to go along with his three assists.
Smith earned his first double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He also had three blocks. Pride scored a career-high 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting while Lofton also posted 11 points. Covenant shot 43.2% (35-81) from the field and was 27.3% (9-33) shooting 3-pointers while Welch was 47.9% (35-73) and 50% (9-18) in the same categories. The Scots won the battle on the glass, out rebounding the Flames 46-36.
Covenant hosts Bob Jones on Friday at 7 p.m. on day one of the Coca-Cola Classic.