Scott shakes holiday rust to open Classic with win
By Marcus Fitzsimmons | (marcusf@thedailytimes.com)
SEYMOUR — The Highlanders finally had enough.
Scott dominated the final quarter of the opening game of the Seymour Christmas Classic Thursday turning a single-digit lead over The King’s Academy into a 27-point margin before settling for the 66-42 win at SHS.
The youth of an undermanned TKA squad hung with the Highlanders for three quarters and even led Scott (4-9) after the first stanza before the roster and an uptick by Scott’s defense put the game out of reach.
“We had a lot of guys gone for break,” TKA coach Ian Britton said noting the personnel loss the private school with boarding students and players suffers over holidays. “We used a lot of jv guys for this. That’s good for us too. It’s really an opportunity for us to give our younger guys some experience. But we’re a little bit young all over this year.”
The Lions Adam Deathrage knocked down a game-high 20 in the loss. With Josh Keller and Brady Timmerman kicking in 7 apiece for TKA (2-6) as the Lions held the 13-12 lead to start the second quarter.
Scott bounced back from its holiday hiatus sluggishness to take a 7-point lead into the break but couldn’t pull away in the third.
“Like I told the guys, usually our first day back after a holiday we’re kind of lethargic. And we definitely were in the first half, fortunately we got a couple of steals and knocked down a couple shots in the fourth,” Scott coach and former Maryville College point guard Jared Laverdiere told The Daily Times.
Logan Lowe caught fire for Scott in the final stanza scoring 8 of his 15 during a 17-1 Highlander run in the fourth. The Lions didn’t get their first field goal in the stanza until 2:14 remained on Deathrage’s old-fashion 3-point play.
“Logan got a couple steals and put-backs for us,” Laverdiere said. “We kind of got rolling there.”
Scott was led by Jacob Myers, who recorded all of his 18 in the first three quarters. Matt Smithers added a dozen for the Highlanders, who also kick off the second day action today taking on Pigeon Forge at 1 p.m.
“Jacob has struggled the last three or four games and had a little coming out party for us. We needed that. He needed a little confidence booster and it helps us when he can knock those down,” said Laverdiere, who spent a season as a Maryville High assistant before taking over at Scott. “Definitely using a little bit of (Randy) Lambert basketball and a bit of (Mark) Eldridge ball too. Then throwing some of my own stuff in there as well. Those two are some of the best coaches around, it’s been very good to me and I’m taking the pieces and applying to what we’re doing.”
The King’s Academy will take on Tammassee Salem, which was playing the late game against tourney host Seymour Thursday, at 5:30 p.m. today.
“We’ll come back here later just to watch them,” Britton said. “We don’t know much about them but we’ve heard they’re pretty good. I might watch a little bit of Pigeon Forge before we go just to watch them a little more before we play them Saturday.”
