Construction workers screamed “airball!” Girls wore pink shiesties and neon wigs. Lumberjacks. Halls clad in jerseys. Pajama-wearing fanatics. A mysterious banana man. Berea players were being relentlessly taunted for wearing the wrong warmup jerseys. Max Out Barnes, as always was a night to remember.
Unlike previous years, the womens basketball team opened up the night at 5:00 against the Berea women’s team. The Mountaineers came into the night with the best record in the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) and continued their domination on the court in Barnes. The Lady Scots battled all night, but in the end, the very talented Berea team won the war. The Scots were led by outstanding performances by Ruthie Moore ‘23 and Karis McIntosh ‘24. Moore led the team with a “double-double,” 11 points as well as 11 rebounds. McIntosh added nine points of her own, including a game opening three-pointer, as well as three assists and two rebounds. The Mountaineers won due to electric performances by Lynkaylah James, Dailyn Spalding and Drea Satori, who had 17, 16 and 14 points respectively. In the end, the Mountaineers won by a 13 point margin—70-57—but it was a great performance by the Lady Scots nonetheless.
The men’s game was a battle for the ages. The Scots battled the Berea men’s team, and to say Barnes Gymnasium was “rockin’” is an understatement. The game started with Logan Pearlman ‘23 splashing a three, but the Mountaineers quickly took a 17-7 lead. With 13 minutes left in the half, the Mountaineers had a 19-10 lead. Seven minutes later, thanks to a massive scoring run, the Scots equalized the score at 22-22. With three seconds remaining in the first half, the Scots led 33-30, but thanks to a buzzer-beater, half-court shot by Malcolm Noel, the Scots went into the half holding a 36-30 lead over the traveling Mountaineers.
The halftime “show” featured Lucy Sandhoff ‘23 and Parker Rody ‘25 competing in a skills competition where they could make a layup, free throw, three pointer and half-court shot in less than a minute to win $5,000 dollars. Sandhoff moved through the first two shots with ease but hung up on the three-pointer. Rody, on the other hand, could not make the free throw, much to the chagrin of the construction workers in the far corner of the gym.
The Scots led for the majority of the second half until, with five minutes remaining, the Mountaineers took a 60-59 lead. The Mountaineers would go on to win 74-71 as time expired. Berea was led by a 20 point performance by Trey Minter, in spite of an abysmal 2-10 performance from three, including two airballs, for which the crowd clowned him for the remainder of the game. Isaac Caudill also added 19 points of his own. The Scots were led by a whopping 27 point clinic put on by Promise Igbanu ‘23. Pearlman and Luke Crowden ‘25 added 13 points each, while Jonathan Gernatt ‘24 contributed seven rebounds in addition to five points.
Although the Scots fell in both games, the atmosphere was “electric” as some put it. The mood was high energy, even after the game, as many hoarse voices ordered food from The Blink and reflected joyfully on the experience. Win or lose, regardless of the outcome, Max Out Barnes is an integral part of the Covenant experience and not an event any student should miss out on. See you next year.