Covenant College held off a LaGrange College rally to take a 77-72 win over the Panthers at Mariotti Gym on Saturday. The Panthers suffered their first GSAC loss of the season, in dropping to 4-1 in conference play and 9-12 overall.

Denzel Robinson (Columbus, Ga./Kendrick) and Aaron Power (Savannah, Ga./Faith Baptist Christian Academy) led LaGrange with 16 points each. Joey Anderkavich (Melbourne, Fla./Melbourne) had 11 points, while Kyron Anderson (Lawrenceville, Ga./Central Gwinnett) had 10. Marcus Vaughn (Lithonia, Ga./Columbia) pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Callum Sears had a game-high 18 points for Covenant. T.J. Cox and Damien Chaney had 14 points each, while Jon DeVries had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Panthers led only once in the game. Anderkavich completed a three-point play to put the Panthers up 10-9 five minutes into the game. The Scots led by as many as nine points twice in the first half. Robinson's layup got the Panthers within one, 33-32, late in the first half, but the Scots scored the final four points of the half to lead 37-32.

Robinson opened the second half for the Panthers with a dunk off a lob pass from Power to make it 37-34. Covenant answered with nine straight points to open up a 12-point lead.

The Panthers got within three points on two occasions, only to have the Scots pull away each time. Covenant held a 74-63 lead with just 28 seconds left.

Power and Vaughn each made a pair of free throws sandwiched around a layup by Blake Craft (Conyers, Ga./Heritage) to make it 74-69 with 13 seconds left.

DeVries made 1-of-2 free throws to put the Scots up 75-69. Robinson drained a 3 with 8 seconds remaining to get the Panthers within three, 75-72. Sears clinched the win for the Scots by making two free throws for the 77-72 final.

The Panthers play at Piedmont in a GSAC game Wednesday.