Simmons off Bench Collects First Collegiate Double-Double
MARYVILLE – Three was enough for the Maryville Scots as they put their mini-losing streak to bed with an 86-77 victory against Berea.
The win was the 12th in 13 all-time meetings for Maryville against the Mountaineers, who are playing in the Collegiate Conference of the South for a final season before moving to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference next year.
R.J. Simmons polished his Sixth Man credentials with 18 points and a game-high 12 boards off the bench. He helped the Scots overcome a 2-for-17 shooting start that saw them fall behind 12-5 before rallying to take the lead for keeps later in the first half.
"R.J. was fantastic with his energy and his passion," Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said. "I'm really proud of his posting his first career double-double and doing it off the bench."
Jackson Garner and Reed Kemp scored 20 and 18 points, respectively, for Maryville, with Garner extending his streak of double-figure scoring games to eight. His best such streak before this one was three last year on two occasions, and he has lifted his season scoring average to 11.6, which is a career best.
Garner Nets Another 20-Point Game
Garner's 20-point game was the fourth of his career and second this season. Over the current eight-game run, the Clinton sophomore is shooting 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from 3-point distance.
Kemp and Garner combined in the game to go 9-of-10 at the free throw line.
"Jackson and Reed were terrific on both ends of the floor tonight," Placeres said. "They made their free throws late, when Berea was trying to make a push, and Reed held Trey Minter to just six points in the second half. Minter is one of the better guards in our league."
Minter led all scorers with 23 points, with 17 of those coming in the first half to account for nearly half of Berea's 35 points at intermission. His basket with 3:53 left in the first half gave the Mountaineers a 29-25 lead, but Maryville ended the period with a 14-6 run to flip the score line.
Garner and Simmons accounted for all 14 Maryville points during that surge. Garner sank three consecutive 3-pointers to put Maryville in front for the first time, and then Simmons answered with a putback and a 3-ball of his own in the final 1:11.
Maryville led 39-35 at halftime.
"Coming off a losing streak, I felt I just needed to give a little bit more and the whole team felt that way," Simmons said. "Coach was stressing in the locker room that we needed to finish, which is something we haven't been doing the last three games even though we had about the same type of leads.
"Today, there was calmness all along the bench, and that was very helpful. If we can finish and focus, then we can beat anybody. Playing a little harder to get that losing taste out of our mouths, we were able to come up with a win."
Rice Scores 11
A Kemp basket padded the Maryville cushion to 43-35 and extended the run from the first half to 18-6. First-year forward Keith Williams put back a miss and the Scots held their biggest lead thus far at 58-46 with 14:02 remaining.
Seven points was as close as Berea came the rest of the way.
"Once we took the lead, we never gave it back," Placeres said.
Simmons in addition to his 18 and 12 made a career-high four steals. Daryl Rice had three steals to go with 11 points. Garner and Javi Rosell were the high assist men in the game with four apiece. Chase Morgan battled foul trouble but still finished with eight points and seven boards, and Williams finished with seven points in 12 minutes.
Maryville snapped its three-game losing streak and improved to 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the CCS. Berea fell to 6-9 and 1-1.
The Scots are back on the road this weekend for a couple of big tests. They play for first place Friday night at Huntingdon (8-7, 2-0 CCS) before taking on LaGrange (10-6, 2-1 CCS) Saturday afternoon.