George Fox Starts Fast, Defeats Maryville 97-84

ATLANTA – A disappointing first half proved too much to overcome Saturday as Maryville dropped a 97-84 decision to George Fox at the Emory Holiday Classic.

The loss in front of a solid contingent of Maryville supporters snapped the Scots' eight-game winning streak, dating from the first weekend of the season. Maryville, now 8-3, also allowed its highest point total since the Scots defeated Rowan 100-97 exactly one year ago at the Randolph-Macon Coaches Tournament.

For George Fox – located in Newberg, Oregon, just outside Portland – the win continues a terrific start to the season for the Bruins. They are now 8-2 and in good shape to post their first winning campaign since 2018-19.

Maryville trailed 57-38 at intermission after George Fox connected on 63.6 percent of its shots in the opening half and cashed in five of its 11 3-point attempts.

"We battled hard in the second half after a very bad performance in the first half," Scots head coach Raul Placeres said. "Sometimes it's a make or miss game, and we just couldn't hit the shots we needed to hit to in that opening half.

"We got to the free throw line 33 times, but we just didn't finish like we should. If we shoot to our averages today, we have a good chance to win the game. We held them to 38 percent from the field in the second half, but just dug ourselves too much of a hole."

Maryville held brief leads of 9-7 and 11-10 before the Bruins pulled ahead for keeps at the 15:35 mark of the first half. A 15-4 George Fox run pushed the lead to 38-26 with 6:01 remaining before halftime, and then the Bruins capped off their nearly perfect 20 minutes by closing with an 11-1 run that made it a 19-point game at the break.

George Fox pushed its lead to a high-water point of 63-42 with 18:33 remaining.

Second-Half Rally Fizzles

Maryville made an effort to get back into the mix with a 14-2 run that featured six points from Jackson Garner, four from R.J. Simmons, two from Chase Morgan and one each from Daryl Rice and Keith Williams. The score was 65-56 with still 13:59 remaining.

But George Fox answered with a 9-0 run and the game was never in doubt again.

Maryville finished with its worst 3-point shooting game of the season, making just 4-of-24 for 16.7 percent. George Fox outshot the Scots in all three categories, finishing at 51.6 percent from the field, 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from three and 80.6 percent from the line.

Reed Kemp scored 20 points to lead the Scots, followed by 16 points and nine boards from Morgan. Rice added 13 points to go with five assists and just one turnover, while Garner scored 12.

George Fox's Aiden Price led all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting.

 The Scots are back on the court Saturday against the loser of Friday's second game between host Emory and Mary Washington. Tipoff is noon.