Maryville Swishes Season-High 16 Threes in 86-49 Runaway
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – It wasn't perfect, but it was close.
No, not Tuesday night's Collegiate Conference of the South regular season finale. Maryville won that one in a landslide atop Lookout Mountain, thumping their rivals from Covenant 86-49.
What was near perfection was Maryville's run through the CCS regular season. The Scots finished 11-1, rallying for 11 straight victories after suffering a bitter two-point loss at second-place Belhaven way back on Jan. 6.
"Really proud of how we bounced back after that opening weekend," Maryville head coach Raul Placeres said. "We knew that we held our own destiny, and we made a commitment to how hard we were going to work to put ourselves in the best position to win the conference title."
Placeres said the goals coming into Tuesday's game were to win more games than last year – when the Scots finished 18-8 – and win more conference games than last year, when the team closed at 10-2.
Both boxes checked.
Big Night from Downtown
When Logan Patterson made his first 3-pointer of the game, Maryville led 16-5 with 14:27 on the first-half clock. When he hit his second, the lead was 21-8 and Maryville was cruising.
The Scots went on to swish a season-high 16 3-pointers, just one off the program record.
Patterson and Jackson Garner made three treys apiece, with Chase Morgan and Javi Rosell both finishing 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. Morgan was the Maryville high scorer with 13 and the high rebounder with nine. R.J. Simmons scored 11 for his 11th straight game in double figures, and Garner added 10.
"You always want to leave your footprint on the program, and tonight we had great performances from the whole team," Placeres said. "Chase played really well and dominated the boards, especially in the first half. Logan, Javi, Devin Mixon, Kobe Franklin and Nick Johnson all gave us a great lift. Everyone contributed. We had nine threes off the bench."
Maryville matched the 77-49 win at Averett as its best-scoring defensive result of the season and held Covenant to its second-lowest point total of the season (lost 51-47 to Adrian). Covenant finished at just 28.3 percent from the floor. Only Averett at 27.6 was lower for an MC opponent this year.
Placeres praised forward Ryon Reed, who made his second straight appearance in the starting lineup.
"It's our ninth different starting lineup this year, and Ryon was better today," Placeres said. "I say it all the time. Continue to stay ready because the opportunity will come. Ryon never complains. He just brings it and now he's 2-0 as a starter."
Tale of Two Similar Halves
Maryville's largest lead in the game was the final score, reached when Hayden Treadwell converted a second-chance basket with 42 seconds remaining. Maryville finished with a 42-29 rebounding edge and 17-2 advantage in second-chance points.
Both halves were evenly dominant for the visitors, with Maryville leading 44-25 at intermission and then winning the second half 42-24. The Scots had 14 different players in the scoring column.
Next for Maryville is a Saturday night home date against Warren Wilson (3-20). The Scots won 112-61 in Swanannoa back in December. Start time is 6 p.m.
"We have a chance to win 20 games, which at our level is extremely difficult because we play only 25 games," Placeres said. "It would be our 22nd 20-win season in more than 100 years of basketball.
"Saturday night gives us the opportunity to finish the regular season in front of a great crowd and have one last trial run before the conference tournament."
Maryville is the No. 1 seed and hosting the CCS tournament semifinals and championship game Feb. 23-24.