Scots Meet Belhaven in Saturday's 3 p.m. Title Tilt
MARYVILLE – Two terrific halves of basketball put the Maryville Scots right where they want to be: Playing for a conference championship.
Maryville picked the perfect time for one of its better wins of the season with an 87-65 thumping of Piedmont here Friday night in the Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament semifinals. It was MC's seventh victory this season by 20 points or more but the first since an 89-65 triumph against Berea more than a month ago.
The Scots broke open a tie game by ending the first half on a 9-2 run to take a 41-34 lead into the locker room. After the break, Jackson Garner swished back-to-back threes on the first two Maryville possessions and the Scots led 47-34.
"The first four to five minutes of that second half were critical, because we needed to push the lead so we could control the tempo of the game and get them out of their zone," Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said.
After the Lions pulled within 53-46 with 14:51 showing, Maryville's Charlie Cochran put together his own personal 8-0 run with a step-back jumper, a pair of nifty underneath layups and an alley oop from Garner that widened the margin to 61-46 with 11:29 to play.
Piedmont never drew closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Big Presence Down Low
"We took advantage of the inside all night long," Placeres said. "We got 45 of our 87 points from our post players, including Charlie leading us down there with 14.
"And we continue to move the ball, finishing with 24 assists on 35 made baskets."
Garner was the leader in assists with five to go with his 15 points (on five 3-pointers), but seven different Scots had multiple assists.
One of those was Jose Rodriguez, who filled up the stat sheet with eight points, a game-high 11 boards, two assists, three steals and three blocks. Maryville dominated the glass 43-30, and bench points showed a 31-6 Scots advantage.
"Great production today from Kordell Kah coming off the bench," Placeres said of his senior forward, who scored 10 to go with four rebounds. "He gave us a great lift when we needed it."
1,000 Points in 69 Games
Lost in Friday's tournament hoopla was Myles Rasnick scoring 19 to eclipse the 1,000-point mark in a Maryville uniform. He entered at 1,013 for his collegiate career but at 995 with the Scots – Rasnick scored his first 18 points for East Tennessee State back in 2018-19. Now he's at 1,032 and 1,014, respectively, officially the 36th Maryville Scot to topple the 1,000-point barrier.
His 69 games played are the fewest on the all-time list.
Piedmont placed four starters in double figures, led by Andrew Stimson with 15. But the missing starter was All-CCS First Teamer Ryan Jolly, who was saddled with foul trouble all night and limited to eight points in 21 minutes.
Maryville takes on Belhaven in Saturday's championship game. Tipoff is 3 p.m. The Scots have won nine games in a row and stand 17-8 for the season.
In Friday's first semifinal, Belhaven rolled past LaGrange 85-68 in an impressive wire-to-win victory. The Blazers won all three meetings against LaGrange, and they enter Saturday's title game at 15-11 and riding plenty of momentum.
Top Two Seeds for the Trophy
"We've given ourselves a chance to win the conference championship Saturday at 3 o'clock," Placeres said. "Belhaven made a good LaGrange team look today like they didn't belong on the floor, and that's rare. They played fantastically.
"Belhaven has great guards, and they have something that most teams do not have – they have two guys inside who are erasers. They are second in the country in blocked shots per game."
Placeres says 1 vs. 2 is what you want this time of year. It just feels right.
"We are the top two seeds," he said. "This is what we have been working for and what has been plastered in our lockers since the preseason rankings came out. We embrace it, we like it and Saturday will be another challenge for 40 minutes."