Berry's Tim Miles scored 26 points and David Holloman added 22, but Maryville defeated the Vikings 91-81 in a wild game in Maryville, Tenn., Thursday.
Berry (8-6) trailed 29-26 with 5:08 remaining in the first half, but the Scots (8-7) went on a 27-9 run over the final five minutes of the opening half and the first 4:21 of the second half to break the game open and make the score 56-35.
After Berry head coach Jeff Haarlow called timeout, the Vikings began chipping away at Maryville's lead, eventually pulling to within seven points with a 23-9 run of their own, making the score 65-58 when Miles nailed a 3-pointer with just over 10 minutes remaining.
But over the next two minutes, the Scots opened its margin to 13 points, only to see Berry pull back to within five points on back-to-back 3-point baskets by Mac Whalen and a pair of free throws from Miles that made the score 74-69 with 6:14 left.
After the teams traded buckets, Maryville's Donald Rucker hit two free throws and Cory Cheek hit a 3-pointer to give the Scots an 81-71 lead with just over three minutes on the clock. Berry would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
"We just dug too big of a hole for ourselves, and couldn't quite dig ourselves out," Haarlow said. "We finally created some momentum late, and we fought until the end. We just didn't fight well enough in the middle of the game."
Ironically, after a week in which the game was postponed twice because of freezing temperatures that made travel conditions unsafe, the Vikings were as hot as they've been all season Thursday, hitting 60 percent (29-for-48) of their shots from the floor, including 56 percent (9-for-16) from 3-point range.
The difference came on the glass, where Maryville outrebounded the Vikings 36-20. Nineteen of the Scots' 36 boards came on the offensive end of the floor.
Miles, who scored a season-high 30 points this past Saturday at Young Harris, needed just over 11 minutes to reach double figures Thursday. He was 8-for-12 in the game, including 4-for-6 from long distance. He also led Berry with six rebounds while dishing out five assists, one fewer than teammate Kendall Gadie's game-high total.
"They actually did a pretty good job on Tim," Haarlow said of Maryville's defense. "Tim did a good job of finding some holes, and he's just such a good shooter."
Holloman was just as toasty as Miles, hitting 8-of-11 shots and 6-of-8 free throws.
They were joined in double figures by Jon Abrams, who came off the bench to score 11 points.
Maryville's Eryk Watson led all players with 32 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Cheek scored 14, while Rucker added 13 points and 11 rebounds, Milton Stanley scored 13 points and Brandon McGill chipped in 10 for the Scots.
Berry is scheduled to return to action Jan. 19 at LaGrange.
- BerryVikings.com -
