Box Score Maryville Wins 20th, Keeps 1-Game Lead
DEMOREST, Ga. – A combined 21-0 run across the end of the first half and start of the second vaulted Maryville to an important 78-59 victory over pesky Piedmont Thursday night.
Maryville reached the 20-win plateau for the season and 10 wins in the USA South. The 14th-ranked Scots maintained their one-game lead over both Covenant and LaGrange heading into Showdown Saturday.
It's Maryville at Covenant in a 3 p.m. tipoff, with the winner claiming the top seed from the Western Division in the upcoming conference tourney. This year if the No. 1 West seed advances, that team hosts the tournament semifinals and final.
This is Raul Placeres' first 20-win season as Maryville head coach, although last year's squad went 10-2 in a Covid-shortened season and won the Western Division regular season and tournament titles. The Scots have led wire-to-wire this season, but it takes a victory Saturday to close the deal.
"Really happy with the road win," Placeres said. "We've gotten our identity back, which is the importance of playing defense. That's back-to-back games of allowing below 60 points. If we are going to make a run here at the end of the year, it's going to start with our defense.
"A lot of those games we played on the road early are helping us now. We've got one more game, and we know Covenant will be ready."
Big Push Before Halftime
Piedmont was primed Thursday after playing Maryville to a narrow 71-67 loss on Jan. 29. The Lions led 30-25 with 5:22 showing before halftime.
But that's when JR Sanders got the Scots going with a jumper. The defense picked up the pace and Jekobe Coleman swished a 3-pointer on Maryville's next possession to forge a 30-all tie.
Sanders scored and then Kordell Kah converted before Sanders connected on back-to-back buckets. Felix Uadiale added a free throw and Maryville suddenly led 39-30 at intermission.
The Scots had held Piedmont scoreless over the last 5:22 while putting 14 consecutive points on the board. And they weren't done!
"JR was the key with eight points right there before halftime, and that gave us some separation going into the break," Placeres said. "The guys made some good adjustments, and we took care of the ball better in the second half."
Piedmont had possession to begin the second half, but Uadiale, Chase Ridenour and Myles Rasnick came up with consecutive steals that led, respectively, to a 3-pointer from Ridenour, a Rasnick putback and a thunderous Uadiale dunk.
In just 56 seconds, lead was 46-30 and the combined run stood at 21-0 over 6 minutes and 18 seconds.
9-0 Run Settles It
Piedmont whittled the margin to 56-49 on Garrett Beagle's layup with 8:40 remaining, but Maryville answered with nine straight points and held the Lions scoreless for 3:50. And that was that.
Maryville turned the ball over just four times in the second half after 11 in the first. The Scots also made hay once again at the free throw line, finishing 14-of-18 to Piedmont's 5-of-12.
Rasnick scored a game-high 16 points and added eight boards, four steals and two blocks. Uadiale contributed another double-double – his seventh of the season and third in a row – with 14 points and 11 boards. Coleman scored 11 and Nicholas Clifton added 10 points and eight rebounds.
"Felix wasn't feeling great today, had a little bug, but he toughed it out," Placeres said. "Everybody who played contributed to the win. And we shot well from the free throw line; that was a big difference."
Maryville's road warriors improved to a combined 12-1 away from home.
