Scots Wipe Out Westminster 87-68; Morgan Scores 17

ST. LOUIS – Maryville finally made as many shots as it missed, and the result was a resounding 87-68 victory against Westminster on Saturday night.
 
Game 1 of the Webster Classic saw the Scots shoot exactly 50 percent from the floor, by far their best of the season. Maryville made 34 of its 68 attempts and improved to 2-2 with its second straight victory.
 
Chase Morgan scored a game-high 17 points in 19 minutes, bolstered by a perfect 7-of-7 from the field. The sophomore raised his season shooting percentage to exactly 50.0 and lifted his team-leading averages in scoring to 15.5 and in rebounding to 7.3.
 
Jose Rodriguez was nearly perfect from the field, going 5-of-6 for 13 points and a game-high of nine rebounds.
 
"Chase is playing very comfortably right now," Scots head coach Raul Placeres said. "He still can get a lot better, but tonight was another solid performance. He didn't miss a shot from the field, and we will take that.
 
"Jose's energy early on was terrific. He was scoring around the rim and leading us in rebounds, and that's who he was last year."


 
Scots Start Fast
Maryville scored the game's first five points and grabbed a 9-2 lead on Morgan's layup from a nice dish by Jackson Garner. The Scots steadily built the lead and then a 9-0 Maryville run pushed the advantage to 30-13. Jaylon Green cashed in a 3-pointer and the Scots got layups from R.J. Simmons, Morgan and Simon Wilbar during the run that lasted just over 90 seconds.
 
A pair of Keith Williams free throws doubled the score to 36-18, and then Williams scored again on a layup and the half ended with the Scots in front 38-22.
 
The Blue Jays kept hanging around to start the second half. When Ben Eberlin dropped in a hook shot it was a 41-26 ball game with 17:18 remaining.
 
Reed Kemp's return to the Show-Me State began to heat up in the second half. The transfer from Missouri Western made 4-of-5 in the second half, including 2-of-3 from long range. His 10 second-half points led the Scots.
 
Maryville pushed the advantage to as many as 27 points on two occasions, 80-53 and 85-58, the latter with 2:28 remaining. Placeres made sure all his 18-strong roster saw playing time and the Blue Jays were able to trim the final margin to 19.
 
"Reed found his shot there in the second half, and that was good to see," Placeres said. "And Keith Williams' minutes were good. Doing what I asked him to do. Overall, a good performance. Keeping the opponent under 70 points and under 40 percent from the field (36.9), plus we outrebounded them by 15. That's usually a good formula for success.
 
"Could have been better in those last four minutes, but some young guys got minutes that hopefully will pay dividends as we go forward."
 
Kemp finished with 16 points and 4-of-9 from downtown. Wilbar contributed 7 points and 6 boards, while the assist leaders were Morgan and Daryl Rice with 4 apiece. Prior to Saturday, Maryville's best shooting game was 40.7 percent in the season opener against Rowan.
 
Sunday Bunch
Maryville is back in action Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Central time (3:30 Eastern) against host Webster. The Gorlocks are coached by Chris Bunch in his 22nd season. Before going to Webster, Bunch was an assistant coach for the Maryville Scots under Randy Lambert.
 
Bunch got his start in the Tennessee high school ranks, spending seven years as a head coach. He won 100 games and had two teams ranked in the state's top 10. Bunch is a graduate of Lincoln Memorial University.