Maryville Falls 88-84 Despite Six Scoring in Double Figures
MARYVILLE – Nemesis LaGrange did it again.
Six players in double figures were not enough Friday night for Maryville to halt a home losing streak to LaGrange in an 88-84 defeat to the Panthers. The Scots trailed by as many as eight in the second half, rallied to take a four-point lead, but could not hold on.
That's five in a row for LaGrange inside the Cooper Athletic Center. Maryville during that time is 3-0 at LaGrange. Go figure.
The Panthers, now 9-5 overall and 1-0 in the CCS, powered their way to victory behind a 62.7-percent shooting night. That included a 17-of-25 performance from the floor in the second half and 5-of-9 from 3-point distance over that same 20 minutes.
Kyle Smith made all five of those threes – the first one just before the halftime buzzer and then four in the second half – to lead the scoring sheet with a career-high 23 points. The five made 3-pointers also were a career high.
Plenty of Scoring
Both teams put six in double figures. For Maryville, Myles Rasnick and Kordell Kah scored 14 points apiece. Jackson Garner and Daryl Rice each had 12 points and both Charlie Cochran and Chase Morgan scored 10.
Jose Rodriguez was the Maryville rebounding leader with four as the Scots were outrebounded 38-23. Attribute that to the fact that LaGrange missed just eight shots in the second half.
Maryville led by six points in the first half on four separate occasions, the last being 23-17 with 8:41 remaining. The Panthers outscored their hosts 20-8 the rest of the way to run into the locker room leading 37-31.
Zac Hill scored the opening basket of the second half and LaGrange had its largest lead at 39-31. It was still 62-55 Panthers with 10:49 showing when the Scots went on their big run.
Cochran got it started with a fast break three-point-play, and then Rodriguez converted a layup to narrow the margin to 64-60. Kah connected on back-to-back threes and Garner cashed in a three-point play to push the Scots in front 69-66 with 6:18 remaining, capping the 14-4 run.
Garner's 3-pointer pushed the Scots in front 74-70, and Cochran made both ends of a two-shot foul to keep the score at 78-74 with 3:42 to play. But Maryville went cold from there, failing to score on its next three possessions as LaGrange went in front by three.
Last Lead of the Game
Rasnick's layup with 1:36 remaining gave Maryville its last lead of the game at 83-82. But LaGrange scored on its last four possessions and outscored the Scots 6-1 to close out the decision.
The Scots, now 7-7 overall and 1-1 in the CCS, turned LaGrange over 23 times while committing just seven, and points-off-turnovers favored Maryville 25-10. And despite allowing LaGrange to shoot 68 percent from the floor in the second half, the Scots still won that half 53-51.
Maryville is back in action Saturday in a 4 p.m. home game against Belhaven, which won 82-80 at Berea on Friday night in double overtime. The Blazers are 7-5 overall and 3-0 in the CCS.