Demorest, GA – Just one game removed from a historic upset inside Cave Arena, the Piedmont College Men’s Basketball team could not maintain momentum losing to Oglethorpe 82-61. The Lions struggled early scoring just 18 in the first half and dug an insurmountable hole despite a stronger showing in the second half.
Piedmont outscored the Stormy Petrels in the second half 43-41 thanks to six 3-pointers and holding Oglethorpe to just 4-of-14 (28.6%) from behind the arc. The Stormy Petrels were near unstoppable from 3-point range early on shooting as high as 80% during the opening minutes, draining them from deep, and ended the day shooting 43.8% from behind the arc going 14-of-32.
Piedmont trailed by as many as 32 in the game with 7:20 remaining, but late in the contest hit four straight 3-pointers to cut the lead to 20 with 2:00 left. Those four from behind the arc came within 1:17 of game clock, all off the hands of freshmen.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Trey Winders started the rally, followed by Marquise Lanier tacking on one, and Aaron Bailey notching his first points of the year. The Lions entered Saturday’s contest averaging 80 points per game, but only managed 61, dropping that averaging to 76.4 for the year.
Once again for Piedmont it was a player off the bench that led the way as Chris Meeks was one of the bright spots, nearly securing back-to-back double doubles as he fell one rebound shy ending with 12 points and 9 rebounds. The team’s leading rebounder this season held that title in the game Saturday as well as Justin Vallejo had 11 boards.
The Stormy Petrels had four players in double figures including the leading scorer in the game, Drew Patrick, who accounted for 20 points. As a team, Oglethorpe scored 41 in each half.
The Lions return to action in one week on Saturday, December 13 at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. The Vikings were in action Thursday night losing their conference opener to Oglethorpe 90-64. Saturday’s contest at Berry will be at 3:00 p.m.
