Following a tough 87-74 loss against the Panthers of LaGrange College last Saturday, the Piedmont College men’s basketball team ended the 2018-19 season with a 5-20 record and a 4-14 mark in USA South play. Piedmont was unable to win a game away from home this season, going 0-13 in road and neutral site contests. This was their last scheduled game after the heartbreaking loss against Covenant College on Senior Day on Feb. 9. Following the defeat, the Piedmont College men’s basketball team was unable to advance their season into the conference tournament. The Lions were highly competitive throughout the season, but were not able to close out several tight games down the stretch. Piedmont had 10 losses by 10 points or less this season, nine of those being USA South contests.
“It came down to [Covenant] hitting big shots, and they’re the number one team on our side of the conference for a reason,” said senior guard Taylor Mills. “A lot of their guys got going and hit big shots when they were supposed to.”
The Lions had a solid lead and were looking to take over in the first half, however, Covenant closed the gap and hit a last second 3-pointer to end the half. Piedmont began to take the lead after the start of the second half, but Covenant played a close game. The Scots took the lead with just over seven minutes left to close out the contest.
“We couldn’t really finish down the stretch,” said Mills. “We played a close game, we always play against Covenant really close, but it really came down to who could make the bigger shots.”
The Lions will return all but three seniors next season, as Taylor Mills, Marquise Lanier and Tariq Abdulgader will all graduate this spring. Mills and Lanier were the team’s two leading scorers this year, averaging just under 13 and 12 points per game, respectively.
While the Lions are losing their two leading scorers, there were several young players who were able to play a great deal of minutes, and will have plenty of experience heading into next year. The Piedmont College men’s basketball team is ready to put this tough season behind them, and start to prepare for the 2019-20 campaign.
