Box Score Clifton Double-Double Leads Charge
BEREA, Ky. – Don't let that 19-point score line fool you. This was hardly your easy, breezy USA South victory for the 16th-ranked Maryville Scots.
Maryville fought off a determined Berea home court effort and posted an important 80-61 victory Wednesday night. The loss for the Mountaineers was their first at home this season, while Maryville stretched its winning streak to nine games and improved to 13-1 overall, 3-0 in the USA South.
Nicholas Clifton led the way with a double-double, scoring a season-high 19 points and grabbing a career-best 18 rebounds. Clifton's big night helped offset the one-two punch of Berea's Trey Minter and Kevion Hudson, who scored 25 and 18 points, respectively, to lead the Mountaineer upset bid.
"In college basketball, whenever you can win on the road, it's a good day," Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said. "We didn't have the energy we normally bring in that first half, but we held them to 26 points in the second half and just 20 percent shooting.
"And Nick was terrific. Not only did he have that double-double, but he held his man (Isaac Caudill) to 1-of-12 shooting and 5 points. What a performance."
Berea Soars Ahead
The Scots were in front early, pulling out to a 21-12 lead on Felix Uadiale's dunk with 8:26 remaining in the opening period. But Berea scored the next 14 points to soar ahead 26-21 at the 5:13 mark. Minter and Hudson had combined to score Berea's first 23 points.
Clifton's step-back jump shot pulled the Scots into a 35-35 tie at halftime. It was just the fourth time all season that Maryville did not lead at the break: Birmingham-Southern 33-27, Emory 36-31 and Pacific Lutheran 35-35. Only the Emory game got away.
A Hudson free throw began the second half, but then Maryville scored eight straight capped by Myles Rasnick's driving layup for a 43-36 advantage with 16:53 showing.
Minter scored off a turnover for a 47-47 tie at 13:36, but Maryville answered again with nine straight finished off by Jekobe Coleman's 3-pointer with 11:28 remaining. Coleman posted 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from downtown.
"Another game with four in double-figures," Placeres said. "We outscored their bench 26-6, outscored them in the paint. Felix had some really good moments, and Jekobe hit some big shots in second half."
Sanders Hands Out Eight Assists
Maryville put the game into the win column with a 17-4 run over 4:51, capped by a JR Sanders pull-up jumper in the paint that made it 73-57 with 4:26 remaining. And the Scots coasted from there.
Placeres also praised Sanders, who scored eight points to go with eight assists to miss by one his season assist high. Uadiale worked his way for eight rebounds to go with his 11 points, and Kaleb Powell grabbed seven boards. Rasnick filled up the stat sheet with 11 points, two assists, three steals, three blocks and zero turnovers in 32 minutes.
Clifton missed his career scoring high by one point. He scored an even 20 against Piedmont in last year's USA South Western Division championship game. His previous rebounding high was 14 against Pfeiffer way back in February 2019 during his debut collegiate season.
"We had to get back to who we were," Placeres said of the halftime talk. "We didn't like that we allowed 35 points in the first half, but we started dominating the boards (26-19 in the second half) and brought a lot more energy in the second half.
"If we want to win Sunday at LaGrange, we will have to play better from the start."
Maryville tips off at LaGrange this Sunday at 3 p.m. The Panthers are 6-8 overall and 1-0 in the USA South heading into Friday's game at Covenant.
