First-Year Guard Swishes 3-Pointer with Less Than 1 Second Remaining in 75-74 Thriller
DEMOREST, Ga. – Call him Just-in-Time Jamal!
In a fire-drill situation Tuesday night with Maryville suddenly trailing Piedmont 74-72 and the clock tick-tick-ticking toward triple zeroes, Jamal Ware took a fast-break pass from Javi Rosell and pulled up for a 3-pointer at the top of the key. The shot swished through like a dagger with 0:00.8 to spare, and Maryville escaped with an incredible 75-74 road triumph.
"I had a time out left, but I was just like, you know, if I call time out, they can set up that zone," Scots head coach Raul Placeres said of the closing seconds. "Sometimes you just want your guys to be able to play freely and loosely there at the end, and big-shot Jamal does it again.
"It's no longer out of no-Ware. It's you better know 'Ware' he is!"
10 Ties, 16 Lead Changes
Piedmont had taken the two-point lead on Dylan Patrick's driving layup with 6.5 seconds remaining, breaking the 10th tie score of the contest. Ware's winner then caused the 16th lead change in what was a terrific Tuesday night basketball game in front of an energetic crowd.
Things appeared headed for overtime when Maryville's Kyle Cloninger tied the score at 72-all on a layup with 27.5 seconds showing. This after Piedmont had bounced back from giving up a 16-0 run that turned a 51-45 Lions lead into a 61-51 Scots advantage with 9:19 remaining. From that point until the decisive shot, the Lions climbed back into it by outscoring Maryville 23-11.
"Greg Neely is a really good coach, and I have the utmost respect for him and his program," Placeres said. "They were desperate, fighting for a spot in the tournament. There are a bunch of teams fighting for positioning, so we knew we were going to get their best. And we certainly did.
"I was proud of my guys for what seemed like we were taking control of the game, but then they made some good plays. That's the game of basketball, and we weren't as efficient down the stretch as we're capable of being. But I'm proud of just how we found a way to win this game on the road."
Maryville improves to 15-5 overall and 6-1 in the CCS, good for solo second place behind Belhaven. The Blazers won 71-67 Tuesday night at Huntingdon to stay undefeated at 8-0 in league play. Maryville and Belhaven meet again Feb. 21 in Jackson.
Tuesday night's loss was the sixth in a row for Piedmont, dropping the Lions to 9-12 and 2-7.
First Double-Double for Ware
Ware earned his first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 11 boards, while he and Cloninger combined for 24 and 14. Reed Kemp capped that 16-0 Scots run with a pair of 3-pointers on his way to 23 hard-earned points. Kemp was 8-of-15 from the field and 2-of-7 from downtown.
For Ware, the second half of the season has seen the Miami rookie finding his footing. He averaged 0.7 points over his first 11 games, but that is up to 6.1 over the last nine contests. During this nine-game run, Ware is shooting 54.1 percent from the floor, including 10-of-16 from the 3-point line.
Two of those treys have been game-winners, the first one coming 17 days ago to defeat Huntingdon.
"He's playing great," Placeres said. "His first double-double and he gets it with a career-high in rebounds and matching his career scoring high. He was excellent defensively as well.
"I say all the time that it's easy to take that shot when the game is tied because you can still go to overtime. But you've got to have some incredible courage to take a shot when the game is on the line, and he certainly did."
Kemp Closing in on 1,000
Placeres praised Malachi Chipp for a pair of 3-pointers made, one in each half, and recognized that the Lions were determined to keep Kemp somewhere around his average.
"If teams continue to do that, they are going to pay because it's going to give us opportunities to get other guys going," Placeres said. "Yet every time you think Reed had a tough night, you look at the box score and he puts up 23 points and six rebounds.
"It's a privilege to get everybody's best punch, so anytime you can win on the road, man, you celebrate it. We had four guys in double figures, which is good. It was a wonderful team win for us."
Kemp's 23 marked his 10th straight game of 20 or more points. He has scored 972 points in a Maryville uniform, and his four-year NCAA total stands at 1,129. Placeres also earned collegiate victory No. 94 against 41 losses.
Senior Day Saturday
Next up for the Scots are the final two home games of the regular season. Maryville hosts Huntingdon (16-4 overall, 5-2 CCS) on Friday at 6 p.m. and LaGrange (6-15 and 1-7 CCS) on Saturday at 4 p.m. Saturday's schedule includes Senior Day recognitions at approximately 3:40 p.m.
"We are excited for another opportunity to play a Huntington team having one of its best seasons in program history," Placeres said. "You know they'll be ready to play. We had a great game against them at their place, so I know they're going to be ready.
"And then Senior Day against LaGrange, which has been an adversary of ours for many years. We've got a tough weekend ahead of us at home, but we're still in the race for our fifth consecutive regular-season title. That's all you can ask for this time of year."
The D3 Datacast Live!
Catch Placeres this Thursday night when he appears as the special guest of The D3 Datacast Live! Watch via YouTube starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.