Berry Rallies Past Scots in Second Half

MOUNT BERRY, Ga. -- Callum Sears and Colton McGriff each had 10 points for the Covenant men's basketball team, but the Scots could not hold a nine-point halftime lead as they fell 59-50 at Berry to open the regular season on Thursday night.

Covenant (0-1) opened up a nice lead in the first half thanks to 54.5 percent shooting from the floor. Sears scored all 10 of his points in the half on 4-of-7 shooting.

The Scots took their largest lead of the night at 29-16 after a Jake Delaney layup, assisted by Joey Danek, with 5:23 left in the first half. Berry would trim the Covenant lead to 31-22 on a Jake Wright layup with less than two minutes before the halftime break.

In the second half, Berry scored the first 13 points to gain a 35-31 lead before McGriff broke the Vikings scoring spurt with a 3-pointer at the 15:05 mark. Berry would respond and take a 49-42 lead with just over five minutes remaining before Chris Boyd converted a three-point play to make it 49-45 with 5:20 left.

The host Vikings (1-0) would then go on a 9-0 scoring run over the next four minutes to pull away from Covenant and claim the victory. Mac Whalen had a layup and a 3-pointer during the stretch, while Wright contributed a basket of his own.

Danek scored eight points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds for the Scots. Covenant managed just 38.8 percent (19-49) shooting for the game and 3-of-11 from 3-point territory, but did make 9-of-11 free-throws. Berry outrebounded the Scots 30-27.

The Vikings were led by Lake Graham's 13 points. Wright and Whalen tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively. Whalen added six assists, while Wright had a game-high seven rebounds.

Covenant will have a quick turnaround as they will face Emory & Henry College at 7 p.m. Friday night inside Barnes Physical Education Center. The first 300 fans into the game will receive a free t-shirt and all fans are encouraged to wear white to participate in the White-Out event.