DEMOREST -- 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.
