MARYVILLE – Belhaven got Maryville once. The Scots were determined not to let it happen again – at least not in the same month.
Maryville gained a measure of revenge here Saturday by knocking off Belhaven 81-72. The win evens the season record against the Blazers after Belhaven rallied for a 78-76 decision two weeks ago in Mississippi.
Scots head coach
Raul Placeres knows his team could face the Blazers again come tournament time.
"They are a really good team; really well coached," Placeres said. "We just did enough today to get the win. Both teams had a great first half offensively. In the second half, it looked like two heavyweight boxers going at it. I would like to have seen us finish a little better.
"It was a great college game and our guys stepped up to the plate."
11-2 Run Puts Maryville in Front
There were two ties and four lead changes, and those all came in the first half. After Maryville took the lead for keeps at 26-25 on a
Reed Kemp floater in the paint with 6:31 remaining, the Scots continued an 11-2 run to take a 35-27 advantage.
Kemp scored those first two points, then
Collin Smith followed with a layup.
Jackson Garner swished a 3-ball before
Daryl Rice knocked down a jumper and converted a fast-break layup. Play was back and forth until
Keith Williams sank both ends of a two free throw opportunity to send the Scots into the locker room up 46-37 at intermission.
Rice scored 11 of his 16 points in that opening half after being challenged by his head coach.
"Daryl had not played really well in his career against Belhaven," Placeres said. "I challenged him yesterday in practice and he looked me in the eye and came out here today and had a fantastic game."
The Scots turned on the jets right out of the second-half gate, outscoring Belhaven 6-0 and 9-2 to take a 55-39 lead with 14:27 showing. The Blazers closed within 59-52 before Maryville built the lead back to 73-54 with 5:18 remaining on Kemp's 3-pointer from the top of the key after a steal.
Credit the Blazers, who put together an 18-4 run and made it a game at 77-72 with 36 seconds left. But that was as close as they could get before Kemp and
R.J. Simmons hit both ends of their 2-shot free throws to settle matters this time around.
Contributions Across the Board
Placeres after the game called out several Scots for their contributions:
-- "
Chase Morgan 16 and nine.
-- "Reed 20 and six, and six steals.
-- "R.J. again, 14 and nine off the bench.
-- "Keith was fantastic. People see two points, but he had eight rebounds and four assists. Keith has a great feel for the game.
-- What about
Jaylon Green? Sometimes, it's not the amount of minutes you play, it's what you do with those minutes. He got two steals in three minutes.
-- "
Collin Smith is an exceptional young man who has an incredibly bright future within our program. It's hard to get him more minutes because the guy who plays his position is probably the best Sixth Man in the league in
R.J. Simmons. But today in 17 minutes, Collin was the highest plus-minus guy on the floor with plus-13.
"When the opportunity is presented, you must produce, and that's life. We were really active with our defense today – 14 steals is fantastic. We're never going to be perfect, but we do have to learn how to finish better."
Sixth 20-Point Game for Kemp
Kemp scored 20 points to lead four Scots in double-figures. The Franklin junior added six rebounds and a career-high six steals, which also is the team's individual high for the season. Kemp stands second in the league in scoring at 18.4.
He said the team was highly motivated coming into Saturday's game.
"Play together and play for first place, that was what Coach P said to us," Kemp said. "We understood what this game meant and the implications it has on our season, so we were ready to go from the jump and we had a sour taste in our mouth from the first matchup.
"We just wanted to get a win at home and play for first place. That's why we come to Maryville."
Belhaven also placed four scorers in double-figures, led by Judah Jordan and Jordan Marshall with 16 apiece. Jacob Reese scored 13 points and grabbed 17 boards for the most rebounds against the Scots since Keene State's Jeff Hunter posted 18 last year at the Great Lakes Invitational played at Wabash in Indiana.
Maryville is right back in action Sunday in the second game of a noon doubleheader against Piedmont. The Lions lost to the Berea men 87-83 Saturday and come into Cooper at 9-7 overall and 1-3 in the CCS.
Maryville improved Saturday to 12-5 overall and 4-1 in the league, tied for first place with Berea.
