Huntingdon rallies in second half for win at Piedmont

DEMOREST, Ga. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team rallied from a 16-point deficit in the second half and knocked off Piedmont College 73-70 on Saturday.

The Hawks took the lead for good on a basket by Damien Madison with 52 seconds remaining and sealed the game by hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the final seconds. Leading 68-67, Charvez' Hobson made 1-of-2 free throws with 14 seconds to play and James Harris sank two free throws to make it a four-point game with six seconds on the clock.

Piedmont pulled within a point, 71-70, on a 3-pointer and quickly fouled Madison with one second remaining. Madison hit both free throws to close the scoring.

This was Huntingdon's fifth straight game to be decided by five points or less. The Hawks are 6-3 in games decided by five points or less this season.

Piedmont set the tone early, building a 12-point lead in the first half and a 40-35 lead at halftime. The Lions scored the first 11 points of the second half to build their largest lead of the game, 51-35, with 16:01 left in the game.

Trailing by 16, Huntingdon began to turn the momentum and outscored the Lions 38-19 in the final 15 minutes. The Hawks chipped away at the lead, pulling within 10 points with 12:39 to play and four points with 8:15 remaining.

The Hawks would hold Piedmont to 10 points in the final 7:48 of the game. Huntingdon took its first lead of the second half on a pair of free throws by Harris with 4:16 to play. From there, Piedmont tied the game twice, but the Hawks did not trail again.

Harris led Huntingdon with 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals and was 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. Madison added 13 points and Ceaunte Zachery had 10 points. Mykel Woods had five rebounds and three blocks and Hobson had three blocks.

Records: Huntingdon (7-7, 4-3 USA South); Piedmont (7-7, 2-5 USA South)

Coming Up: Huntingdon hosts North Carolina Wesleyan on Jan. 18 at 2 p.m.