The Daily Times

Milton Stanley had the senior day that anyone would ask for on Saturday afternoon against Piedmont College. The Maryville College senior finished with 28 points and nailed a barrage of free throws to seal the 81-71 victory for the Scots.

Maryville (15-8, 5-2 Great South) started out the game with a 10-0 lead with all four seniors starting the game. Maverick Willett’s bucket with 6:45 in the first half put the Scots up 31-14. That was not to be the case though as Piedmont crept back in the game and cut the deficit to 40-30 at the half.

With the win, Maryville coach Randy Lambert notched win No. 599 in his career. He will get his chance at No. 600 on Monday night at Tennessee-Wesleyan.

“I thought we started well in both halves. We finished OK in both halves,” Lambert said. “The problem was the middle part of each half.

“There in the second half they made a defensive adjustment and really did a good job in protecting the lane and inviting us to shoot the perimeter shot. We just had a hard time knocking down a shot or two.”

The Scots extended their winning streak to four games by nailing down free throws and forcing the Lions into 23 turnovers. Piedmont (5-18, 1-5) shot 41.2 percent from the field, but was almost perfect at the free-throw line. Josh Haymore and Richarson Myrthil combined to go 12-of-12 at the stripe. Haymore finished with a team-high 15 points and Myrthil finished with 11.

Maryville ran away in the first matchup by winning 106-68 over the Lions, but this time Piedmont fought back in the second half and took the lead when Dylan Delaney’s 3-pointer put Piedmont up 49-47 with 13:30 to play. Delaney hit another trey that put the Lions up 52-49 as he finished with 13 points for Piedmont.

MC sophomore Craig Raye came off the bench on fire scoring five straight to give MC the lead for good. Raye went scoreless in the first half. In the second half he came alive and finished with 13 points and four rebounds.

“I thought Craig Raye came in and gave us a big lift, and knocked down some big shots for us when we needed somebody to knock down a perimeter jump shot,” Lambert said.

Stanley had 13 points in the first half and 15 in the second. He finished 7-of-8 at the free-throw line over the final two minutes to help clinch the win for Maryville. Stanley hit an 18-footer to start off the game and went 9-for-12 in his last game on Randy Lambert Court.

“You get confident after you make that first one. I came in with the mindset that I was going to be aggressive, and I think it paid off,” Stanley said.

Fellow senior Ben Williamson finished with three points and senior Donald Rucker finished with a team-high seven rebounds to go along with one point.

Maverick Willett was good for eight points in his final home game for the Scots and freshman Christian Ford finished with 16 points to go along with his six assists. The Indiana point guard did not have a turnover in the contest.

Wes Lambert limped off the court in the second half after an athletic move under the rim and was scheduled for further evaluation today on the nature and extent of the injury.

Maryville returns to play 7 p.m. Monday in Athens taking on NAIA Tennessee Wesleyan before closing out the regular season at LaGrange.

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