Box Score Four in Double Figures
MARYVILLE – In a rematch of Maryville's first game of the season, the Scots picked up their second win of the year over defending National Christian College Athletic Association Division II champions Johnson 86-68.
As a team, Maryville had an excellent performance on the glass with a season-best 23 offensive rebounds. Those boards led to 22 second-chance points compared to the eight from the Royals. The 50 total rebounds tied the season-high set in the first contest with Johnson earlier in the season.
The crowd of over 1,000 inside of Boydson Baird saw the home team notch a season-high mark in steals with 12 and tie their season-low in turnovers with seven.
"This is a tough week in college basketball with finals taking place starting tomorrow," said Maryville head coach Raul Placeres. "To be able to get a quality win against a team that was crowned national champions last year feels good."
It was the visiting Royals who jumped out to the lead first with a 3-pointer from Calvin Quehl opening the game's scoring. Chase Ridenour evened the game with a 3-pointer of his own and a deep shot from JR Sanders gave the Scots a lead that they never surrendered in the win.
Sanders has his second-best shooting night of the season going 4-10 from the field. He scored in double figures for the first time this month with 11 points.
"I knew JR would have a better game today," said Placeres. "There is a lot of pressure lifted off his shoulders with the great academic semester he is having. He is going to continue to get better and get back to his old self. An old self that is one of the best guards in our league."
Johnson matched the Scots in scoring in the second half 45-all, but just could not pull themselves back into contention late in the 85-68 Maryville win.
Getting Experience
A total of 17 Scots saw the floor in the game. Placeres says it was all by design to shift some lineups in the tilt.
"It is important to play the younger guys with the older guys and not just bunch them up at the end." said the coach. "I wanted to reward Malachi (Chipp) because he battles with our older guys in every practice. He played with our top guys today and looked the part."
The bench scored 29 of the 85 points for Maryville in the game.
Ridenour led Maryville with 20 points followed by Myles Rasnick with 13. The leading rebounder was Felix Uadiale with 10.
Daryl Rice came off the bench for the Scots and led in assists with four.
The Scots step away from USA South play to take part in the Hampden-Sydney Classic next weekend. Maryville will face Ferrum (4-3, 0-2 ODAC) Saturday and Hampden-Sydney (6-0, 2-0 ODAC) on Sunday.
"We have a challenging weekend next week in Virginia with games against Ferrum and Hampden-Sydney," said Placeres. "We need to clean things up moving forward. When we did what we were supposed to do we looked really good. That gives us good momentum moving forward as we work to get better."
