Box Score Scots Win 11th Straight; Improve to 15-1
MARYVILLE – The Maryville Scots are smokin' hot.
The 13th-ranked Scots won their 11th in a row Thursday night in a 95-63 thumping of rival Covenant, improving to 15-1 overall and 5-0 in the USA South. Boydson Baird Gymnasium is seeing better crowds with each game, and it's no wonder.
This team is fun to watch.
Kordell Kah took his turn atop the scoring podium with a season-high 15 points on perfect shooting. The junior forward led all scorers after going 5-of-5 from the floor -- 3-of-3 from downtown – and sinking both free throw attempts.
Kah is the seventh different Scot to lead a game in scoring this season. He also grabbed a season-high eight boards and handed out three assists against zero turnovers.
"Kordell was fantastic today," Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said. "He had great joy out there. He was animated, he was in tune with what he needed to do – when he does that, he's a terrific player.
"Hopefully, this will be a confidence boost for him going forward."
Maryville led 47-26 at halftime and then backed that up with a 48-point second half. The 13 made 3-pointers were a season-high, and the 59.1-percent success rate from long range was second only to the 7-of-10 effort against Chicago out in Las Vegas.
In addition to Kah, Chase Ridenour was 3-of-6 from long range on his way to 12 points, Jekobe Coleman was 3-of-5 en route to 11 points, and Nicholas Clifton knocked down two of his three attempts from beyond the arc and scored 10 points.
Fourth Double-Double for Felix
Felix Uadiale tallied his fourth double-double of the season and second in a row, finishing with 10 points and a game-high 10 boards. Myles Rasnick added 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, improving to 58.1 percent for the season.
"I'm really thrilled that we put two halves together," Placeres said. "We've been wanting to show that we are capable of sustaining a big lead, and I'm proud of the way our guys followed the game plan. We have 4-5 goals for every game, and we accomplished every one of our goals tonight."
Maryville outscored Covenant 38-18 in the paint, 40-12 off the bench and 19-0 via second-chance points. Covenant didn't grab its first offensive rebound until 5:49 remained in the game, and the Scots won the overall rebounding column 43-28.
"I loved Brandon Jones," Placeres said. "The sophomore came in and gave us great minutes off the bench. Daryl Rice was fantastic with his point-guard play, and Jekobe came out in the second half and really gave us a big lift."
Jones scored six points on 2-of-3 shooting, Rice scored five and grabbed three boards while committing zero turnovers, and Coleman scored eight of his 11 points after intermission.
Maryville finished with eight turnovers to miss its season low by one.
"This was a great team win; a great statement win," Placeres said. "We are calling this Separation Week, and now we have to be ready Saturday for Piedmont. There's a well-coached team coming in here and we've got to shoot it well, rebound it well, and hopefully we can continue to play at this level."
Home court action continues Saturday when Piedmont visits as part of a 2 p.m. doubleheader. The Maryville women take on Piedmont at 2 o'clock, followed by the men's game at 4. The Piedmont men lost 74-71 at home Thursday night to LaGrange, falling to 7-10 overall and 2-2 in conference.
