Box Score Coleman Career-Best 18 Points in 98-74 Win
Photos by Brennan Checkalski and Hannah Jones
MARYVILLE – The Maryville Scots flipped the calendar to 2022 and picked up right where they left off in 2021.
The No. 18 Scots exploded for 56 first-half points and posted a 98-74 victory over Brevard here Friday night. It was easily a season-scoring high for head coach Raul Placeres' squad, which won its eighth in a row and improved to 12-1 overall
"I was really happy with the way we moved it, the way we shot it and the pace of play we showed," Placeres said. "The best thing is it was a plethora of guys scoring early; it wasn't just one guy. That's what our strength has been and will continue to be – our numbers, our depth.
"I was really pleased with the way we started, and we did the same as the game ended as well. We finished the right way."
Jekobe Coleman scored a career-high 18 points and Myles Rasnick matched that total. Coleman swished four of his nine 3-point attempts to actually lower his season percentage to a still-salty 49.1. Rasnick was 8-of-12 from the floor and continues to lead the Scots in both scoring at 16.5 and shooting at 59.9 percent.
On Pace for 100-Plus Early
Maryville bolted to a 29-10 lead with still 11:50 showing on the first-half clock. Eight different Scots were on the scoresheet by that time. The lead ballooned to 50-21 on Coleman's 3-pointer with 4:21 left in the half.
Credit Brevard (3-9 overall, 1-1 in the USA South) for outscoring the Scots 16-6 over the remainder of the period. It was 56-37 Maryville at intermission.
The visiting Tornados pulled within 66-54 with 13:49 remaining when Quincy Carter scored two of his 18 points. But that's as close as the Scots allowed. Rasnick scored 11 in the second half and contributed three blocked shots.
Darius Martin added a pair of blocks as Maryville finished with a season-high seven.
Chase Ridenour scored 14 points and Kaleb Powell added nine to go with seven rebounds. Nicholas Clifton was the game's rebounding leader with eight to complement his eight points. Powell's seven boards were a season high, and he was 7-of-8 at the line after entering the game just 5-of-14.
Defense Leads to Offense
"We knew we needed to come in and jump on them early," Powell said. "We let up a little bit and Coach got after us, but we got going again. We weren't happy with how easily they were scoring, and Coach said we needed to take pride in our defense.
"Good defense leads to good offense, and that allowed us to go on another run."
Maryville ended the game on a 15-5 run over the final 5:37 to record their highest point-total in Placeres' three seasons at the helm. The last time Maryville scored more than 98 points was during Randy Lambert's final season, a 110-74 triumph over Johnson in December 2018.
"This team has the ability to get even better than they are right now," Placeres said. "Our defense must get batter. Obviously, I'm pleased with scoring almost 100 points. But it was a typical game considering we had not played since Dec. 29.
"We've got two road games coming up and we've got to be a lot sharper to win on the road. I'm pleased because it gets us to 2-0 in the conference."
Maryville plays again Wednesday night at Berea and then next weekend at LaGrange. The Scots are home again Jan. 27 against Covenant and Jan. 29 versus Piedmont.
