Men's Basketball | 1/10/2014 10:22:00 PM

Box Score LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. - The Methodist men's basketball team rallied and then later withstood a late second-half charge by Covenant to come out on top, 63-57, on Friday evening at the Barnes PE Center. The victory snaps MU's eight-game road losing skid, giving the Monarchs their first away 'W' since they won at LaGrange on Jan. 20, 2013.
 
Facing an eight-point deficit at halftime (34-26), Methodist (4-9, 2-1 USA South) opened the second period with seven unanswered points in less than three minutes. Desmond Parker made a jump shot, Chris Vinson successfully completed a three-point play and Bryan Hockaday added a layup at the 17:03 mark, bringing MU within a single point of Covenant (34-33). Later on Hockaday would knock down a jumper with 15:04 on the clock to give the Monarchs the edge (37-36), their first lead since midway through the opening half.
 
A 13-3 Methodist run would stretch its advantage to as much as 11 points (50-39) following an Austin Saunders jump shot at the 10:37 mark. During that spurt, MU made 4-of-9 field-goal attempts but connected on all five of its shots from the charity stripe. In this same span of over four minutes, the Scots (6-7, 1-2 USA South) shot 1-of-6 from the floor and turned the ball over five times. Later on down the line, Covenant trailed by 12 points (58-46) after Tyler Deal converted a three-pointer with 5:05 remaining in regulation. A 6-0 run by the Scots trimmed the Monarchs' edge to six points (58-52) as Ben Phelps made a jumper at the 1:08 mark, but Covenant would get no closer than that.
 
To begin the two programs' first-ever meeting, CC tallied eight of the contest's first 10 points to grab a six-point advantage (8-2) over five minutes into the first half. Methodist responded the game's next six points to knot the score up, 8-8, after a Keith Corbett jump shot with 13:32 on the clock. As the period continued, the two teams would be locked up in a tight game well past the midway point. Covenant appeared to break away, however, with an 11-2 run that propelled it to a nine-point edge (28-19) following Colton McGriff's jumper at the 3:44 mark. The Scots would close out the opening half on a high note as Robby Bell made a three-pointer with four seconds left to give the Scots an eight-point lead (34-26) at intermission.
 
Overall MU shot 23-of-60 from the floor (.383) and hit 12-of-22 free-throw attempts (.542). In comparison, CC made 40.0 percent of its field-goal attempts (24-60), but attempted only seven free throws on the night. Methodist held a 48-32 edge on the glass.
 
Corbett had eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Monarchs, and Hockaday posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards to along with four blocks. Brandon Monk also reached double figures as he came off the bench to score 11 points in addition to grabbing five rebounds.
 
Phelps and Nate Frierson finished with 10 points apiece for Covenant. Bell and Daniel Garrett each chipped in nine points, and McGriff had six points and seven boards.
 
Methodist will continue its weekend travels as it will match up with Maryville on Saturday. The game is set to start at 4:00 pm.