JACKSON, Miss. – In a back-and-forth game on a neutral site, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team suffered their first loss of the season in a non-conference game against Covenant College, 81-76, played at Belhaven University. ETBU is now 3-1 on the year and will head to Abilene, Texas, this weekend for two games.

Chris Haynes recorded 23 points to lead ETBU while Aaron Gregg (15 points), Kevin Charles (13 points), and Charlie Cochran (11 points) all recorded double-figures. The Scots were led by Chris Barnette's 19 points while Will Crumbly and Zack Allen each had 16 points.

ETBU outshot the Scots in field goal percentage (48.2%-46.6%) and three-point range (32.0%-27.3%) but CC made 21 free throws to ETBU's 14. CC also dominated the boards with 36 rebounds, which included a 12-2 performance on offensive boards.

The Tigers struggled out of the gates and wouldn't get on the board for the first five minutes before Logan Blow canned a three (15:30). The Scot's early lead would be six, 11-5 (12:57), before a run of seven straight points (12:18-11:07) gave ETBU their first lead, 12-11. Again, CC took control with a 9-2 surge (10:55-7:42) to lead 20-14. The turning point of the half occurred when ETBU poured in 15 unanswered points (7:42-3:18) to lead 29-20. Haynes and Charles combined for 12 of those points while Gregg connected with a three (3:18) for the nine-point lead. Both teams then combined for nine points as the Tigers grabbed a 33-25 lead at the break.

Haynes would continue his strong performance by scoring ETBU's first eight points in the second half pushing the lead to nine, 41-32 (17:39). However, the Scots would start to gain momentum as they used the next eight and a half minutes going on a 30-14 run (17:10-8:41) to grab a 62-55 lead. A 9-2 run for ETBU (8:41-6:01) knotted the score at 64 before the Scots would grab the lead for good on a three-pointer with 5:50 left to play, 67-64. Landin Brown converted a three-point play to make it a one-point game at 71-70 (3:44) only to see the Scots go back up by six. Haynes (1:24) and Gregg (0:45) cut the score to 76-74 before the Scots knocked down another three to lead by five with 19 seconds to go. ETBU nearly pulled off a miracle as they made a lay-up to pull within three, 79-76, with 10 seconds left and then stole the ball on the ensuing play. A quick, game tying three-point shot with seven seconds came up short as the Scots made two free throws to seal the win.

ETBU will head out to Abilene, Texas, to play McMurry University at 7:30 PM on Thursday and then Hardin-Simmons University on Saturday.