Rasnick, Morgan Contribute 20-Point Games

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – How's that for a turnaround?

Maryville rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit and defeated Concordia Wisconsin 85-75 here Wednesday at the Daytona Beach Shootout. The Scots trailed 52-40 with 16 minutes remaining before outscoring the Falcons 45-23 the rest of the way.

"I honestly challenged them, saying 'It's now or never,'" Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said. "We were approaching a desperate moment. We didn't bring the right amount of tenacity and toughness to end the first half, and that's what had me really upset.

"We dominated most of the first half, and then we allowed them to score on something like 12 of the next 16 possessions. But it was great to see the young kids step up. We were going to get back in it with guys who were gritty and tough. It was nice to see us play our brand of basketball there in the second half."

Scots Duo Does the Damage

Myles Rasnick scored 23 points and Chase Morgan added a season-high 21 on 8-of-10 shooting to pace the Maryville offense. Those two accounted 31 of Maryville's closing 45 points, with Rasnick scoring 18 on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 at the line; and Morgan adding 13 on 5-of-7 from the floor and a perfect 3-of-3 at the stripe.

"Myles didn't start off very well – he took good shots; they just weren't going in," Placeres said. "But you stick with the guy who works as hard as he does. I knew his time was coming, and he made critical plays.

"But it was our freshmen. Jaylon Green gave us a little push there and got the energy going, Jose Rodriguez was really big with nine rebounds, and Chase was fantastic. It was nice to see us gut it out and find a way to win the game."

Both teams held narrow leads early before Maryville sprinted to a 15-2 run over 4:48 to lead 22-12 on Kordell Kah's 3-pointer with 9:48 showing in the half. But Concordia responded with a 28-13 run of its own to go in front 40-35 as the seconds ticked down.

Rasnick's high arching 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded sent the teams to the locker rooms with Maryville trailing 40-38.

It was soon 47-38 in the opening 2 minutes of the second half before Green finally halted the run with a layup. The Falcons scored five more in a row to reach their largest lead at 52-40, capping a 40-18 run over the previous 13 minutes.

That's when Placeres went to the young guns.

"Our young guys came in and were distributing the ball," Morgan said. "We were being active on defense and forced a lot of turnovers, and then we started getting on top of their 3-point shooters. We quit giving them open looks."

From Down 12 to Up 12

Kah's third 3-pointer of the game – he finished 4-of-4 – narrowed the Concordia lead to 58-57. Rasnick followed with a 3-point-play and Maryville was back in front 60-57 with 9:07 remaining. Concordia tied it on the ensuing trip, but then the Scots scored the next 12 points as Rodriguez and Rasnick made layups, Kah connected on another bomb, Morgan made a 3-point-play and Jackson Garner converted a driving layup.

It was Maryville in front 72-60 with 6:12 showing, and the Scots had gone from down 12 to up 12. The Scots run was officially 32-8 over a 10:27 stretch.

Kah's 4-of-4 night from downtown was the best perfect 3-point shooting game of his career.

"I didn't finish anything inside, so I needed to make my outside shots," Kah said. "They played a zone that at first frustrated us. We weren't taking care of the ball. But we figured it out and it worked out.

"It was an ugly game, but it was one where you can see how good we can be when we really fight for it. For me, I shot well and that's what we needed at that moment. Anything I can do at to help us win, that's all I care about."

Concordia pulled as close as 76-70 with 2:43 remaining, but that was it. The Scots won their second in a row to improve to 4-5, while the Falcons dropped their fifth straight to fall to 2-9.

Morgan's 21 points marked a season high, as did his five rebounds. Green added a season-high four assists to his four points. Grant Karsten scored a game-high 25 for Concordia thanks to 7-of-10 from 3-point distance.

The Scots are back in action Thursday at 7 p.m. against Marymount (Va.).