Maryville Scores Last 9 Points, Clips Piedmont 86-84
MARYVILLE – Halfway home and your Maryville Scots are solo leaders of the Collegiate Conference of the South.
Maryville forced high-flying Piedmont to miss its last nine attempts from the field and swiped an 86-84 thriller here Sunday afternoon. The Scots ended the game on a 9-0 run over the final 2:51.
R.J. Simmons sank both ends of a one-and-one free throw trip to put Maryville in front 85-84 with 15.5 seconds remaining. The first try swished. The second one rattled but stayed down to give the sophomore his 16th point.
Piedmont's Ryan Jolly advanced the ball quickly up the court and had two attempts at the basket. But neither one fell, and Chase Morgan finally grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Morgan sank the second of his two charity tosses with 1 second remaining for the final margin.
"Piedmont played extremely well," Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said. "They shot the heck out of it and played basically the perfect offensive game to beat us. And they're a tough matchup for us because they play a lot of guards. They try and expose us with their guards.
"Really proud of R.J. I just kept telling him in the huddle, 'You're built for this. You're built for this. You're built for this.' And he knocked down two big-time free throws there. Good win today for our ballclub. We did just enough to deserve the victory."
Maryville shot better than 50 percent from the floor for just the fifth time this season, finishing at 50.8. The Scots made 13 3-pointers to miss their season high by one.
"50 (percent from the field) and 46 (percent from three) typically is a big blowout win for us, but this Piedmont team today was really darn good," Placeres said. "They had it, but it went our way this time. I know they will be ready for us down there."
Lions Looked in Command
Before the Simmons heroics, Maryville fans watched in disbelief as Piedmont rallied from a 62-56 deficit to take an 84-77 lead on Joe Helenbrook's two free throws with 3:31 remaining. That capped a 28-15 run for the Lions over the previous 10:06 and had them poised to win for the second straight year in Cooper Athletic Center.
But Piedmont, which after that run was shooting 59.6 percent from the floor, didn't score again and Maryville finally found the friendly bounces.
Morgan scored six points in a row and pulled the Scots within 84-83 with 56 seconds to play. Piedmont had three scoring tries at the other end before Morgan finally emerged with a rebound. Reed Kemp missed a 3-point try but Simmons grabbed the carom and drew a common foul, setting the stage for his big moment.
"We don't have any egos on this team," said Jackson Garner, who matched Morgan for scoring honors with 20. "We are all together. Even in practice, we just show up every day and go to work.
"We knew R.J. was going to hit those two and he did."
Garner blistered the nets for 17 points in the first half, making five of his six 3-pointers to help Maryville take a 42-38 lead into the locker room. The six threes were a season high and one off his collegiate best. He swished three in a row during one first-half stretch for his own personal 9-0 run.
Morgan carried the load for the Scots in the second half, scoring 13 of his 20. The sophomore for the weekend averaged 18 points and 7.5 rebounds.
Scots Held Top CCS Scorer to 15
Jolly led the Lions with 15 points, but that is 7.0 below his CCS-leading average. He filled up the stat sheet with four assists, a career-high seven steals but also 10 of Piedmont's 17 turnovers.
"Jolly is an exceptional player," Placeres said. "But for us to force him into 10 turnovers today – and there was a multitude of guys guarding him – gave us an opportunity. We got a lot of stops late and they turned it over a few times.
"We hung in there and made some plays. Sometimes, that's what the game comes down to."
Simmons finished with 16 points and a game-high seven rebounds, helping Maryville to its fifth straight victory. The Scots improved to 45-10 against Piedmont in the all-time series.
Maryville also moved to 13-5 overall and 5-1 in the league. Coupled with Belhaven's 77-66 triumph at Berea, the Scots assumed sole command of first place in the standings at the halfway point.
"Today we climbed a huge mountain and found a way," Placeres said. "Sometimes that's part of a season. This is my 18th year as a coach and wins are always pretty. Playing back-to-back games is hard. But we found a way and I'm proud of our guys.
"We're going to have to get better. Covenant is next and they have fresh legs. Hopefully, our depth on Tuesday will demonstrate the type of team we have."
Covenant visits Tuesday for a CCS doubleheader, starting at 5 p.m. The Covenant men are 3-13 overall and 0-4 in the league. Their last game was Jan. 11 in a home loss to Belhaven.
