MARYVILLE – Huntingdon completed a Cinderella tournament run here this weekend, knocking off Maryville to headline a sweep of both Collegiate Conference of the South co-champions in less than 24 hours.
The Hawks outlasted the top-seeded Scots 93-92 despite 44 points from Maryville's
Reed Kemp. MC played without junior forward
Chase Morgan, who injured himself in Friday night's tournament semifinal win over Asbury.
Morgan averaged exactly 30 points in Maryville's two wins over Huntingdon during the regular season, so his loss was a massive blow to the Scots. But Morgan was just the latest in a trio of bites by the injury bug that finally derailed a talented Maryville squad. Also sidelined were junior forward
R.J. Simmons for the season and junior guard
Jackson Garner over the last 11 games, sending to the sidelines three starters with bona fide All-League credentials.
That combination was too much to overcome against a lively Huntingdon squad that enters the NCAA Tournament at 22-6. Just two seasons ago, Huntingdon went 2-23.
The Hawks went a combined 0-4 against Maryville and Belhaven in the regular season but peaked at the right time to earn the NCAA tournament spoils.
Highest Point Total in 47 Years
Kemp tried to the very last shot to push Maryville further into the postseason. The Franklin senior finished 12-of-23 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from downtown, and he was 16-of-19 at the line. His 44 points are the most by a Maryville Scot in 47 years, since Wayne Emme scored 47 points in a Dec. 1, 1977, home loss to King.
Emme was one of the many heralded Scots who Kemp passed this year on the all-time season scoring chart. Kemp not only eclipsed Dan McKinstry's record of 645 points set 53 years ago during the 1971-72 campaign, but he might have put it out of reach for another half-century by ending his season with 707 points.
Maryville Season Point Leaders
Player Season G Pts Avg
1. Reed Kemp 2024-25 27 707 26.2
2. Dan McKinstry 1971-72 24 645 26.9
3. Bill Padgett 1967-68 25 640 25.6
4. Eryk Watson 2010-11 26 627 24.1
5. Bill Padgett 1966-67 23 621 27.0
6. Bill Padgett 1968-69 25 578 23.1
7. Wayne Emme 1976-77 24 571 23.8
8. Kelvin Richardson 1992-93 26 538 20.7
9. Warren Morgan 1970-71 20 537 26.9
10. Greg Hernandez 2009-10 27 529 19.6
*Next on the list:
Randy Lambert at 525.
Scots on Top Early
Maryville led for the first 12-plus minutes of the game, going in front 20-12 for its largest lead on Kemp's fast-break layup with 10:56 showing.
Javi Rosell made a 3-pointer, and it was 23-16 Scots with 9:54 left before half.
But Huntingdon went on a 17-5 run over the next 3:21, capped by Keyshawn Dickey's fast-break layup that made it 33-28 Hawks. Maryville tied it 34-all on
Kyle Cloninger's 3-pointer with 4:39 showing, but Huntingdon held firm and led 48-44 at intermission.
The Hawks at that juncture were a sizzling 8-of-10 from the 3-point line and shooting 53.8 percent overall.
Maryville grabbed a 57-55 lead on Kemp's 3-ball at the 14:58 mark, pushing the Scots in front for the next three minutes. Then the Hawks used a 23-12 run over the next 6:29 to take their largest lead of the game at 68-59 with 8:29 remaining.
Tied with 1:01 Remaining
The Scots slowly shaved points off that deficit, finally drawing level 89-89 when Kemp was fouled on a 3-point attempt and sank all three charity tosses with 1:01 remaining. Tournament MVP B.J. Brown answered with a layup at the 41-second mark, and Maryville had two possessions with a chance to tie but came up empty.
Brown iced the game for the Hawks with two free throws in the closing seconds, leaving just enough time for Kemp to drain one final 3-pointer from well beyond the arc as the final horn sounded.
Huntingdon never did cool off shooting the ball, finishing at 54.7 percent in the game that mattered most after entering at 42.7 percent for the season. Maryville shot slightly below its season average of 46.4 percent, finishing the game at 44.8. The missing Morgan was the team leader at 53.8 percent.
Cloninger scored 14 points, Rosell 12 and
Kobe Franklin 10 to go with a career-high five assists. Cloninger finished fourth on the team in scoring at 8.4, and Rosell reached with 115 assists – one shy of
Daryl Rice's number from last season.
In addition to his season point total, Kemp made 91 threes for the third-highest amount in program history behind Watson with 94 in 2010-11 and Rodney Lane with 92 in 1992-93. His 48.6 percent 3-point shooting rate ranks eighth in program history and should land in this season's Division III national top-five, along with his 26.2 scoring average.
All-Tournament Team
Kemp and Rosell were the Maryville representatives on the All-Tournament Team, joining Brown, Nate Johns and Martise Jackson from Huntingdon. Belhaven's Jonathan Lucas and Asbury's Luke Imfeld were the semifinal reps.
Morgan finished second on the team in scoring at 16.6 and tops in rebounding at 7.0. His 43 blocked shots give him 76 for his career, ranking him sixth on the all-time Maryville chart heading into his senior season.
Garner landed third on the team in scoring at 16.5 after climbing to 818 career points. His 164 3-pointers stand 12th on the Maryville career chart with one season remaining.
Maryville finishes 21-6 for its third 20-win campaign in the last four years. Head coach
Raul Placeres reached 100 victories in just six seasons leading the Scots.
