Demorest, GA – The Piedmont College men’s basketball team could not recover from yesterday’s overtime loss in time to get a win over Hood College Sunday afternoon falling 94-78 to the Blazers. Hood (3-5) and Piedmont (4-5) were playing in the consolation contest of the Rotary Classic hosted by Hood in Maryland as Piedmont fell by three in overtime yesterday afternoon to Eastern Mennonite.
PC trailed by only three at the half, but it was a matter of turnovers that sank the Lions in the effort to overcome the deficit. Piedmont turned the ball over 12 times in the second half – more than Hood turned it over on the afternoon overall.
Hood coverted Piedmont’s 25 turnovers on the day into 24 points, 14 in the second half alone. Piedmont was led by a pair of Lions in double figures topped by TRAE GAINES who came off the bench to pour in 18 on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Classmate BRIAN EDWARDS had 13 hitting on 50% of his tries from the floor and going 5-of-7 at the line.
Hood opened the game on a 5-0 run stopped by Gaines’ first bucket on the afternoon on a fastbreak lay-up, two of 14 points Piedmont scored on the break on the day. The Blazers held the lead until five minutes remained in the first when a pair of free throws from Edwards tied the game up at 33-33.
The Lions would tie again once more before Edwards put his team ahead on a bucket with just over two minutes to go before the intermission.
The home team ended the half with two straight scores to hold the slim advantage at the break, and the two would trade the lead back and forth to start the second period as well. With the Lions up 53-51 after a PEYTON LUKEN three with 17:10 to go, Hood would go on a 13-0 run to surge ahead for good holding the Lions to just 25 points over the final 17 minutes.
Over the final 17 minutes, Piedmont shot just over 29% from the field as a team collecting more turnovers (11) than made field goals (8). Going cold from the floor, Piedmont watched Hood do exactly the opposite hitting 44% in the second half to earn the 94-78 win over the Lions.
With the loss, the Lions fall to 4-5 and drop below .500 for the first time since falling in the season opener to NCAA Division I member Presbyterian College. PC will now have the holiday season to recover and try to snap a two-game losing skid when the Lions return to the court January 3 traveling to Rocky Mount, North Carolina for a battle with NC Wesleyan.
Tip off against the Battling Bishops is set for 2:00 pm and live coverage will be provided by the Office of Sports Information at NC Wesleyan with links available here.
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