Hawks Pull Out Tight Win At Covenant

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga.- In their first CCS contest of the year, Huntingdon men's basketball (7-7 overall, 1-0 CCS) defeated the Covenant Scots ( 3-11 overall, 0-2 CCS) in a highly contested battle, 77-74

Highlights

First Half

• BJ Brown opened up the scoring for the game with a layup, giving the Hawks an early 2-0 advantage

• The Scots responded on the following possession with a mid range shot, evening the score at 2 in the first minute

• Covenant followed their basket with a 7-0 run, taking a 9-2 lead with 16:54 to go in the half

• Following another layup from BJ Brown, Covenant sank a shot from deep to extend their lead to 12-6 with 15:33 remaining in the half

• The Hawks took the lead with a 9-0 run capitalized with a jumper from Tate Goolesby 17-12

• A three pointer from BJ Brown extended the Huntingdon lead to double digits, 26-16, at the 7:15 mark

• With 3:45 remaining in the half, the Scots put in a layup to shrink the Hawks lead to 29-25

• Following a Covenant triple that brought them within 2, 31-29, BJ Brown put in another layup to push the lead back to 33-29 with 2 and a half minutes remaining in the half

• A layup from Max Gardner gave the Hawks a 37-33 lead going into the half

Second half

• Covenant struck first in the second half, drilling a shot from deep to bring the Scots within one, 37-36

• Covenant retook the lead 43-41 with two free throws at the 17 minute mark

• Nate Johns evened the score at 47 with a layup, which Tate Goolesby followed with a layup of his own to give the Hawks a 50-49 lead

• Max Gardner evened the score at 53 with 11 minutes to go on a free throw following a small Covenant run

• A Covenant triple gave the Scots a 56-53 lead at the 9:41 mark

• Nate Johns split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 58 with 7:50 remaining

• Covenant took a 7 point lead at the 4:45 mark with two shots from the charity stripe

• 4 points from Nate Johns put the Hawks down 69-66 with 4 minutes remaining

• BJ Brown buried a shot from the three point line to even the score at 69 with 3:37 to go 

• Following a three point shot from Covenant,two Scot free throws extended the Covenant lead to 74-71 with 2:11 to go

• Randall Davis put in a layup off an assist from Myles Murphy to give the Hawks a 75-74 lead with 14 seconds to go

• Two free throws from BJ Brown put the game on ice in the final 2 seconds, giving the Hawks a 77-74 win 

Key Notes

• Huntingdon shot 48% from the field, holding Covenant to 39%

• The Hawks scored 58 of their points in the paint, limiting Covenant to 30

• The matchup consisted of 16 ties and 16 lead changes

Hawk Top Performers

• #2 Max Gardner- 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists

• #4 BJ Brown- 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal

• #20 Tate Goolesby- 8 points, 11 rebounds

• #34 Randall Davis- 10 points, 3 rebounds

The Hawks continue CCS play on the road at Piedmont tomorrow, January 6th. Tip off is set for 3 PM CT.