Charlotte, NC - Covenant College prevailed over Johnson & Wales Charlotte 92-88 in men's basketball on Thursday afternoon.

The Wildcats made six of their first eight field goal attempts, jumping out to a 14-3 lead on the Scots. Covenant fought back, tying the score at 24 with just under ten minutes to play in a rapidly moving first half. The teams traded runs the rest of the half with Covenant taking a five point lead at 31-26, then JWU answering with a 15-4 run to surge ahead by seven, before the Scots scored the final six points of the half to trail by just one at the break, 41-40.

Covenant controlled the first ten minutes of the second half, building as much as a 13 point advantage, largely on their outside shooting. The visitors connected on fourteen of thirty-nine 3 point attempts in the game. JWU whittled away at the Covenant lead over the next eight plus minutes, finally tying the score at 86 on Malcolm Warthen's layup with 90 seconds remaining. The Wildcats missed a couple of chances to take the lead, allowing Covenant to secure a 92-88 win.

Nantambu Calhoun led JWU with 22 points. Cooper WIley scored 19 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Warthen and Jaylen Benson-Hollinhead combined for 21 points and 8 rebounds. Ethan Smith just missed a double-double, scoring 9 points and pulling down 10 boards.

The Wildcats will return from the winter break on December 31st when they travel to Buena Vista, Va to take on Southern Virginia at 1:00pm.