Demorest, GA – With 2.8 seconds on the clock, trailing by a single point, the Piedmont College men’s basketball faithful held their breath inside Cave Arena and the collective exhale came upon the celebration when Trae Gaines banked a 40′ jumper to steal a 63-61 victory against Maryville College. Gaines’ shot sent the Cave Crazies into chaos and gave the Lions their seventh victory at home this season.
With under a minute on the clock the Lions took their first lead since 15:45 remained in the game on a Chase England jumper to put the Lions up 58-57. Maryville responded with a layup of its own with just over 30 seconds on the clock to regain a one point lead. Chris Meeks tipped in a missed layup in what looked to be a possible game-winning shot to put Piedmont up 60-59 with 15.2 remaining.
In a final chance shot for the Scots, they looked to their leading scorer on the season, Jaumonee Byrd, who came through in the paint with a layup leaving just 2.8 seconds on the board. Lucky for the Lions, 2.8 proved to be enough as England connected with Gaines in the back-court and the Scots were unable to stop the magical moment that provided an instant classic in Cave Arena.
These two teams entered with identical records at 8-9 and appeared evenly matched as these teams went point-for-point early on, tied three times before the 14:30 mark. The game was deadlocked at 18 after England hit a jumper with 8:45 to go off a Peyton Luken assist.
Brian Edwards gave Piedmont its first lead of the game with 5:58 to play in the first half at 24-22 and extended the lead to as many as six in the first half. The Scots fought back to cut it to just a four-point game at the break at 33-29.
Maryville took the lead 34-33 after a 3-pointer by Jaylen Bowyer and their game moved from the post to the perimeter as they went on to hit three more 3-pointers within 1:30 of game clock and stretched their lead to 45-38 with 12:18 to play. Piedmont trailed by as many as 10 but continued to fight as Luken came up big during the comeback with a 3-pointer, an old-fashioned 3-point play and a pair of free throws.
For Piedmont, the comeback was crucial, but free throw shots kept the Lions in the contest as they were 18-of-26 shooting better than 69% from the line, one of their top five percentages in a win this season. Shots from the charity stripe were hard to come by for the Scots as they hit just 1-of-6 in the game, all coming off the hand of their star Byrd.
Offensive rebounds proved to be crucial too as Piedmont secured 15 while Maryville only managed 3. The Lions outrebounded the Scots as a whole 48-29, tying their second-highest rebounding performance this season.
Chase England had his second straight double-double and his third of the season as he had 14 points and 11 rebounds, with 8 of each coming in the first half. Luken also hit double-figures as he had 11 points with all but three of those coming in the final 5:09 of the game.
This marks the first time the Lions have won against the Scots since a February 13, 2011 victory 82-77 and only the second time in the NCAA era that Piedmont has won against Maryville at home. The Scots lead the all-time series 21-3, and Saturday’s victory snapped a five game losing streak to Maryville.
Piedmont will return to action on the road on February 4 as they travel to take on LaGrange College. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
