Box Score The Maryville College men's basketball team snapped a three game skid and evened their record in USA South action with an 80-68 win over Averett University on Wednesday evening in MC's Boydson Baird Gymnasium.
The Scots jumped out to a 40-34 halftime lead due to a 9-for-21 effort from beyond the arc. Craig Raye led the surge scoring a dozen first half points after going 4-for-4 from long distance. MC's defense forced six turnovers on five steals and limited the Cougars to a 38% shooting effort from the field.
Both teams could not maintain their torrid shooting paces in the second half. MC hit half of their total shots from the floor from three-point range, hitting 31% of their attempts. Maryville's defense doubled their Averett forced errors and limited the visitors to a 25% shooting effort to cruise to the 12 point league victory.
Averett (4-6, 1-1 USA South) was led by Justin Pierce's 24 points. Sunil Ram added 16 points while going 4-for-12 from beyond the arc. Marquis Scott paced the Cougars in the paint with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Maryville (5-6, 2-2 USA South) saw Craig Raye go 5-for-7 from three-point range for a team-high 19 points. Wes Lambert deposited three treys to a 15 point evening while Christian Ford sank 12 points while dishing out nine assists and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. Oscar Butler added 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting while Jaumonee Byrd tossed in ten points and five rebounds.
The Scots will take to the road on Saturday and Sunday. They will challenge USA South foes Greensboro and Methodist before returning home January 12th.
