55-15 Run Keys Maryville Blitz at Piedmont; Home Weekend Ahead
DEMOREST, Ga. – Just nine days earlier, Piedmont had what surely was a 99 percent chance of beating Maryville inside the Cooper Athletic Center. Defeating the Scots in their own gym for the second year in a row, no less.
But Maryville scored the final nine points that Sunday and escaped with an improbable 86-84 victory.
Tuesday night's rematch in Georgia was slightly less nerve-wracking for Scots Nation. Maryville exploded midway through the contest and cruised to an 86-59 decision.
Included was a remarkable 55-15 run that spanned both halves.
"Tonight, we did a better job of sticking with their shooters," Scots head coach Raul Placeres said. "The extra practices leading up to this game really helped us get ready. It showed by our holding one of the top scoring teams in the nation 29 points below their season average."
Better Effort This Night
The Lions entered ninth in the country in scoring at 88.1, including that 84-point outburst nine days ago. In that first game, Piedmont shot 50.8 percent from the field for the second-best number against the Scots all season.
"We did not bring it like we wanted to in that first game, but a lot of that credit goes to Piedmont," Placeres said. "Tonight, after a bit of a slow start, we played really well."
Maryville trailed – yes, trailed – this game by 10 at the midway point of the first half, but that lead vanished so quickly that it's hard to believe it was even a thing. The Scots responded like a freight train and the homestanding Lions were left with no reply.
After some early back and forth, Piedmont put together a stretch that saw the Lions swish four out of five 3-pointers and take a 22-12 lead with 10:18 remaining.
But the Scots didn't flinch, responding with a quick 9-0 run of their own to pull within 22-21. Jackson Garner scored five during that brief segment and R.J. Simmons and Daryl Rice added layups. That was part of a 30-11 Maryville answer over the final 10:06 of the first half that sent the Scots to the locker room leading 42-33 at intermission.
The second half was more of the same.
Maryville opened with a 13-2 run and extended that to 25-4 over just a 7:20 stretch since intermission. The Scots led 67-37 on Reed Kemp's driving layup with 12:40 remaining. Do the math and there's your 55-15 run over 17 minutes and 26 seconds.
Scots Don't Panic
"This team has shown throughout the season that they never panic," Placeres said. "That has allowed me to let the game flow and allow the guys to work their way back.
"I'm really proud of how we closed the half, and it gave us something to look forward to coming out for the second half. Reed was really good in that portion of the game, and we took control and showed our dominance."
The lead fluctuated mostly in the 20s for the remainder of play. The exception was Nick Johnson scoring five in a row for the Scots on a pull-up jumper and a deep wing three that made it 86-56 as the clock ticked under a minute. Piedmont tacked on three points and that was that.
Kemp led all scorers with 25, his seventh 20-point game of the season. He cashed five of his nine 3-point attempts to give him 54 treys for the season. He leads the Collegiate Conference of the South by six over teammate Jackson Garner, who was 3-of-4 from downtown and now has 48.
Simmons scored 15 on 7-of-11 shooting to reach double figures in scoring for the seventh straight game – extending his team-leading active streak. Garner finished with 13 points and Chase Morgan just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 boards.
Rice, Javi Rosell and Devin Mixon combined for nine assists at the point guard position.
Only Negative Stat Line Was Rebounding
"Everybody got to play again, which is always fun," Placeres said. "Everyone played, everyone contributed, and it was a second consecutive game holding our opponent to fewer than 60 points. I'm proud of the Maryville native, Nick Johnson, for staying ready and giving us a big finish.
"If there's a negative, we have to rebound better. We gave up too many second chances."
Piedmont finished with a 44-37 edge on the glass, but it was Maryville with the 20-15 scoring advantage in second-chance points. The Scots also led in points off turnovers (29-17), points in the paint (44-26) and fastbreak points (17-8). Bench points were 32-all.
Beat LaGrange!
Next up is Cooper nemesis LaGrange this Friday night. The Scots have lost five in a row at home to the Panthers, who are coached by former Maryville Scot Kendal Wallace. Maryville enters with a 10-game home winning streak, dating to last season, so something has to give.
LaGrange hasn't played since completing a season sweep of Belhaven with a 73-70 home win on Jan. 24. The Panthers are 12-8 overall and 4-3 in the CCS.
Maryville won its seventh in a row overall and improved to 15-5 for the season and 7-1 in league. Saturday afternoon, the Scots are home to Huntingdon.