Hawks edge Piedmont in OT for third straight win
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team picked up its third straight victory with a 70-67 overtime win against Piedmont on Tuesday night.
Trailing 67-66 with 2:10 to play in overtime, R.J. Jones scored to give the Hawks the lead for good. Andre Ashley added a basket with 1:02 left to make it a three-point game. Piedmont had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but a 3-point attempt was off the mark and Huntingdon's Charlie Johnson grabbed the defensive rebound to end the game.
With three wins in their first four games, the Hawks (3-1) have already matched last season's win total and are 1-0 in the USA South Athletic Conference. With the loss, Piedmont dropped to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the USA South.
Huntingdon started strong and built a 12-point lead in the first eight minutes of the game on Tuesday. But Piedmont battled back and took a 31-28 lead into halftime. Neither team would lead by more than four points in the final 29 minutes of the game.
A layup by Ashley gave the Hawks a 62-58 lead with 2:02 left in the second half, but Piedmont hit two free throws to make it a two-point game and tied the game 62-62 with seven seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Huntingdon's Jerrod Pettus led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field. Pettus also had six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ashley added 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds and Jones had 12 points and six rebounds.
Coming off a seven-block performance against Berry, 6-foot-7 freshman Brandon McLean finished with five blocks and five rebounds in 18 minutes.
The Hawks return to action on Dec. 5 at Maryville at 3 p.m.