LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, GA – After winning an overtime thriller last night at Maryville, the WPU men's basketball team didn't quite have enough in the tank this afternoon at Covenant. The Pacers had their chances at the end of the game which saw eight ties and 10 lead changes, but the Scots did just enough to hold on, 63-59.
WPU (5-9, 1-2 USAS) went from draining 16 triples at an 83% clip last night, to a 6-of-19 (31.6%) outing this afternoon, their fewest amount of makes and attempts from beyond the arc all season. After going 5-of-12 (41.7%) in the first half, the Pacers went only 1-of-7 (14.3%) from long-distance in the second. WPU shot 19-of-48 (39.6%) from the field for the game and 16-of-22 (68.2%) from the charity stripe.
The Pacers played solid half-court defense and held Covenant to 38% from the field on 22-of-58 shots, but Covenant's trapping 1-3-1 defense gave WPU problems, especially in the first half. WPU coughed it up 16 times, which led to 18 points at the other end for Covenant (4-11, 3-3 USAS).
"They were very tough in their 1-3-1 and forced us into some different situation we weren't used to," said head coach Claude Shields. "We were proud of the way we battled in the second half. We came up a few plays short, but we're excited to get back for a home game this week."
Shawn Shaffer led WPU with a team high 14 points and four rebounds. Chris Thomas had a quiet scoring day with only six points, but he did come down with a team high nine rebounds while dishing out three assists. Tyquan Nolan had his best game of the year with eight points and five rebounds playing 14 minutes off the bench.
TJ Cox paced Covenant's Princeton style offense scoring 16 points. Matt den Dulk went 4-of-6 from the bonushpere for 12 points, and Will Portlock added 10 points, three assists, and five steals.
The William Peace men's basketball team will return to action for their conference home opener against the Monarch of Methodist University this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
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