Hawks Fall At Covenant

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga.- Returning to action after a nearly two-week long hiatus due to winter weather forcing schedule adjustments, Huntingdon Men's Basketball dropped their second CCS game of the season 96-90 at Covenant. 

First Half

It was a highly-contested battle through the first half, as the Hawks carried a slight 43-39 lead into the halftime break. Marcus Townsend opened the game with the hot hand, cashing in on consecutive shots from deep to hand Huntingdon a 6-0 lead early before Myles Murphy tacked on two points of his own to bring the score to 8-1 by the 17:25 mark. Covenant responded in a big way however, taking a momentary lead 10-8 at the 15:10 mark, but an Owen LaRocca triple on the ensuing possession put the Hawks back in front. Led by Skyler Stovall, Huntingdon followed LaRocca's three ball with a run of their own, pushing the advantage to 18-10 approaching the 12 minute mark. Down the stretch of the first half, a senior trio of Townsend, LaRocca, and Murphy steadied the Hawks offensive attack, extending the lead to as much as nine nearing the break. The Scots continued to chip away, maintaining an efficient attack of their own to draw within two 32-30, with 3:52 to go. Despite Covenant's hot shooting, the Hawks remained poised by generating good looks on the other end to bring the lead back up to 9, 41-32, by the 1:50 mark. A 7-2 Covenant run to close the half brought the Huntingdon lead to 43-37 entering halftime. 

Second Half

The tide began to turn early on in the second half, as the Scots pieced together an opening run that evened the score at 46 by the 18 minute mark. Baskets from Andersen Madyun and Marcus Townsend quickly reestablished the Huntingdon lead at the 16:24 mark, 53-48, but the Scots refused to go away. The Hawks continued to find offensive success as the half wore on, pushing the lead to 61-53 inside the 15 minute mark, but a huge 15-5 run for Covenant handed the Scots their first lead of the night with 11 minutes to go, 68-66. Led by a strong offensive effort off the bench, the Covenant lead grew to as much as 79-70 approaching the final six minutes. Huntingdon continued to fight in crunch time, seeing shots fall from Stovall, Keyshawn Dickey, and Townsend as they battled to cut the deficit to 82-81 with 3:56 to go, but an 8-2 run in favor of the Scots brought the Covenant lead back to seven with two minutes to go, and Huntingdon ran out of time, falling 96-90. 

Hawk Top Performers

• #2 Marcus Townsend- 37 points(career high), 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
• #14 Owen LaRocca- 19 points, 2 rebounds, 6 triples

The Hawks will look to bounce back at home on Tuesday, February 3rd as they host Belhaven University in a crucial conference showdown.