Box Score The Maryville College Scots used a come-from-behind charge led by a fury of dunks to earn their first USA South Athletic Conference victory of the season, 100-88, over the Huntingdon College Hawks.
Maryville opened the game on a 12.5 percent shooting effort, as the Hawks took a 16-5 lead early in the game. The Scots found their stride behind back-to-back-to-back treys by Emanuelle Garcia and Emier Bowman to get the offense rolling.
Two huge dunks by Bowman, and key 3-pointer and lay-up by Garcia knotted the game at 33-all for the first time of the game with 4:56 to go, before Garcia's long ball gave Maryville its first lead of the contest, 37-36, with 3:26.
The Scots would ride the run, taking a 45-42 lead to the locker room.
It was a lead they would not relinquish.
"You know I harp on defense, but as long as we have more than they do at the end of the game, I'm okay with it," Head Coach Randy Lambert said. "That's what's happened the last two games. They've got a talented team, and you can't sell them short…In the first half, we were just a little lethargic, and we weren't playing the way I thought we were capable of playing. They did pick it up at the end of the half. Our young guys, they're just so refreshing to put into the ball game. They give you energy, and that's what we need."
Maryville saw Bowman lead the way, throwing down two dunks, while Spencer Shoffner, Colt Nokes and Tyler Spicer each had a dunk in the fast-paced game.
The Scots' Shoffner led the way for Maryville, dropping 24 points on 8-of-13 from the floor, and 7-of-8 at the charity stripe. He had seven rebounds, six assists and on steal on the evening.
Jay Bowyer also had a big night, dropping 16 points to accompany five rebounds, four assists and a steal, depositing 9-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Bowman tallied 14 points on a 6-of-8 night, adding a team-high seven boards to match Shoffner. Garcia added 13 points, as Spicer had nine points and six rebounds. Nokes had seven points, Joshua Brooks, six, Dante Hoppa and Brewer, four each, while Blake Bowman added three.
Maryville outshot the Hawks behind a 33-of-67 (49.3 percent outing), while throwing down eight treys. The Scots posted a 26-of-31 day from the charity stripe, which was good enough for 83.9 percent, while out-rebounding the USA South foe, 42-36.
Huntingdon (3-2, 1-1) shot 33-of-17 (46.5 percent), while adding 13 3-pointers. The Hawks shot 9-of-14 at the free-throw line.
Huntingdon was led by R.J. Jones' 29-point outing, as he knocked down five treys. Raheem Berry had 17 points and a team-high eight assists and seven rebounds, while Andre Ashley matched his rebound total with 10 points of his own. Jerrod Pettus also had 10 points for Huntingdon, while Scotty Chadwick tallied nine points in just 11 minutes of action, depositing 3-of-5 long balls.
Maryville moves to 6-1 on the young season, and they hold a 1-0 record in conference action.
They will travel to Birmingham-Southern College on Monday, Dec. 14, for a 5 p.m. non-conference tipoff, before returning home on Dec. 16 to face Berry College at 7 p.m.
