ST. LOUIS – The Maryville Scots were a smashing success again Sunday, breezing past Webster 77-54 to win the Webster Classic championship.
Maryville entered this tournament as the most acclaimed of the four participating teams, and the Scots did not disappoint. Over two days and 40 minutes of play, Maryville never trailed and never was threatened by the two St. Louis-area squads.
"This week, we got our first true road win of the year and this weekend we were trying to see a little bit of growth," Scots head coach
Raul Placeres said. "The challenge today was could we be decisive and win, and that challenge was met with the way we rebounded, took care of the ball and how many double-figure scorers we had."
The Maryville scoring leaders were
Reed Kemp with 14,
Daryl Rice 13,
Keith Williams 11 and
R.J. Simmons 10.
"We are getting there," Placeres said. "It's still a work in progress, but obviously growth took place this week. Today was our most complete game of the season thus far."
Friday night against Westminster,
Chase Morgan swished a 3-pointer just nine seconds into the game and the Scots never trailed en route to an easy victory. Sunday, Morgan found Kemp for a 3-pointer just six seconds after the opening tip.
15-0 Run Opens It Up
And Maryville continued from there. The Scots used a 15-0 run over a span of 4:58 midway through the first half to race in front 32-10. Simmons scored eight of his 10 points during this stretch to help the Maryville bench compile a 35-12 advantage over the course of the game.
The Scots led 41-21 at halftime and never allowed the Gorlocks closer than 16 points the rest of the way. The largest lead for Maryville was 48-23 on a Rice fastbreak layup with 17:48 remaining.
Maryville just missed shooting 50 percent from the floor for the second night in a row, falling one made basket shy. But Rice and Simmons both were 5-of-8 from the field and Williams was 5-of-7. The Georgia rookie scored his season-high 11 points in just 13 minutes and finished plus-12 during his time on the floor.
The Scots also cut their turnovers nearly in half from the night before, finishing with a season-low eight. They were 12-of-15 from the free throw line to push the season percentage to 75.8.
Jose Rodriguez scored nine points and grabbed five boards in earning Webster Classic MVP honors. Morgan also made the All-Tournament Team, largely on the strength of his 17-point performance against Westminster.
"We are not done yet," Placeres said. "We are going to be on the road a lot more, but it takes mental toughness to handle the challenge of our schedule, and we took a big step this weekend.
"If you are going to win our conference, you are going to have to win on back-to-back nights, and we accomplished that this weekend. I told the guys, the turkey tastes a little better when you've won three in a row!"
The Scots play again next Sunday at Averett in a 3 p.m. start.
Webster Classic All-Tournament Team
Jose Rodriguez, Maryville (MVP)
Chase Morgan, Maryville
Brenna Jeffries, Westminster
Caleb Moore, Willamette
Jemard Sykes, Webster
Markus Becton, Webster
