Maryville Overwhelms Asbury 89-70; Kemp Scores 30 in Scots' Fifth Straight Win
WILMORE, Ky. – Maryville head coach Raul Placeres could not have asked his Scots for a better start to a road conference test.
Maryville broke quickly from the gate and never allowed Asbury back into the game in an 89-70 triumph Wednesday night in Kentucky.
The Scots hit eight of their first nine shots and led 19-4 on a Jamal Ware layup with 15:28 remaining in the first half. The advantage grew to 27-4 and by the time the under-8 media timeout hit, it was 38-9 Maryville for the largest MC lead of the night.
Game over.
"We crushed them from the beginning," Placeres said. "But that's what good teams do. We played exceptional defense early on so that every shot they were taking was contested. Really proud of the guys for starting like that.
"It was their Senior Night, and they were excited. You could see there was some juice in the gym, but we ended that quickly."
Scots Led Wire to Wire
After Kobe Franklin began the game with a 3-pointer and Reed Kemp scored the next five points, Asbury answered with a 3-pointer of its own to narrow the margin to 8-3. Chase Morgan scored on a jump shot and the lead was never fewer than six points the rest of the way.
That Maryville led ONLY 42-21 at halftime was because the Scots went ice cold over the last 8:52 of the first half. The Eagles outscored MC 12-4 during that stretch as Maryville missed 12 of its last 14 shot attempts.
The Scots shot better in the second half (53.1 percent) than they did in the first (44.4), adding a perfect 9-of-9 from the stripe to keep the Eagles in the nest.
Holding the Scots steady throughout was the stalwart, Reed Kemp. The senior guard scored 30 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field. He was 3-of-7 from long range and 7-of-8 from the line to climb to 566 points for the season.
That is the seventh-best total in program history, and Kemp now trails first-place Dan McKinstry (1971-72) by 79 points.
"He's unbelievable," Placeres said. "Thirty points and five rebounds. After the game, one of their players asked me, 'Coach, where'd you find No. 1?' I said, 'He found me!' Just a joy night in and night out to watch him perform."
Kemp has scored 20 or more points in 20 games this season, including the last 13 in a row. He has reached 30 points five times, including four of his last six contests.
National Numbers
Nationally, the Franklin senior came into Tuesday's play fifth in the country in scoring at 24.4 (now 24.6), sixth in 3-point field goal percentage at 47.7 (now 47.5) and 11th in 3-pointers made per game at 3.3 (still 3.3).
Another Scot senior making his mark is Malachi Chipp, who scored a career-high 12 points Wednesday night on 4-of-6 shooting. He was 3-of-6 from downtown, adding three rebounds and a blocked shot.
"I was happy for him," Placeres said. "He's been working hard, and it goes with everything we talk about in our program. You have to stay ready because you never know when your opportunity is going to come.
"I am so proud of him. He's been a great teammate for four years with us and now he is seeing the fruit of all his work at a very pivotal time of the year. I am happy to see him succeeding in the way he is succeeding right now."
Chasing Up the Charts
Chase Morgan missed a double-double by one rebound, finishing with 14 points and nine boards to go with two blocked shots. Morgan with 73 career blocks has climbed into sixth on the all-time Maryville chart.
"Chase was efficient today," Placeres said. A rebound short of a double-double but two blocks and he led us again in assists with four. Doing a little bit of everything, you know, but playing great."
Franklin finished with a career-high six rebounds to go with seven points.
"We made it through four games in the last nine days, and two of those were on the road at close to 11 total hours on the bus," Placeres said. "It's no easy feat, so I'm proud of them."
Maryville upped its winning streak to five games and improved to 18-5 overall and 9-1 in the Collegiate Conference of the South. Asbury dropped to 7-16 and 3-7. This was Maryville's first trip to Wilmore in 31 years, and the Scots improved to 5-0 all-time against the Eagles.
The victory ensures a first-round bye in the CCS Tournament for the Scots, who have games remaining at Covenant next Tuesday and at Belhaven on Feb. 21. Maryville is vying for its fifth consecutive regular season title.