Box Score Maryville Takes Down LaGrange 82-74
LaGRANGE, Ga. – Maryville started quickly in both halves and fought off a determined effort from LaGrange to post an 82-74 win Sunday afternoon.
That's 10 wins in a row for the 16th-ranked Scots, who improved to 14-1 overall and 4-0 in the USA South. Maryville is the only undefeated team in the Western Division.
Maryville dating back to the start of last season has won 24 of its last 27 games.
"Our word of the week has been 'mindset,' and there's no question we had a great mindset right from the start today," Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said. "We learned from our start at Berea, no doubt."
First 10 Points to Ridenour
Chase Ridenour scored 19 of his game- and career-high 22 points in the first half. In fact, Ridenour scored Maryville's first 10 points to help the Scots jump in front 12-1.
Felix Uadiale added 19 points and grabbed a career-high 17 boards, while JR Sanders scored 16 and Nicholas Clifton tossed in 10. Myles Rasnick just missed tying his career-high with nine rebounds to go with nine points.
"Chase was phenomenal," Placeres said. "He scored a career high and really gave us a great boost. He was playing with energy and confidence from the opening tip.
"JR was clutch and running the show for us, Felix was terrific, and we got valuable minutes from our bench. Even though the usually scoring punch wasn't there, they were a big part of this win."
The Scots led by 13 in the first half on two occasions, 27-14 and 29-16. LaGrange pulled as close as 35-31 before Uadiale scored on a layup with a minute remaining and then Sanders swished a running 3-pointer just as the halftime buzzer sounded.
Maryville led 40-31 at intermission.
20-Point Lead on Uadiale's Dunk
Clifton and Sanders traded buckets to start the second half as Maryville opened with an 8-1 run (12-1 carrying back into the first half) to lead 48-32 with 17:45 left in the game. The margin ballooned to 70-50 on Uadiale's fast-break dunk with 8:05 remaining.
The Scots then went cold, and LaGrange made one final push. The Panthers held Maryville without a field goal for three minutes and outscored the Scots 10-2 to pull within 72-60 with 5:11 showing. Two Clifton free throws pushed the lead back to 77-65 at the 2:43 mark.
Uadiale dropped home another dunk and Rasnick sank three of his four free throw attempts over the final two minutes and change to keep the Panthers at bay.
"Part of having a deep team means you are going to get major contribution from different guys," Placeres said. "It makes us a team that can compete for a championship, but we've got to keep growing as a team.
"This is another big week for us, back home for with our crowd and our community. So far, it's been a special year."
The Scots host Covenant on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Covenant plays Tuesday night at Berea and enters that contest 8-5 overall and 3-1 in conference. The Maryville men and women then host Piedmont in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.
