Men's Basketball | 1/11/2014 6:45:00 PM

Box Score MARYVILLE, TENN. -- The Methodist men's basketball team saw a late comeback bid fall short in an 81-74 loss at Maryville on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Monarchs (4-10, 2-2 USA South) trimmed a 10-point second half deficit to a single point with just under 11 minutes to play before the Scots (8-6, 4-0 USA South) regained control to stay perfect in conference play.
 
Maryville extended what had been a five -point halftime lead to 10 points when JP Burris was fouled on a three-point attempt and converted all three free throws with 15:35 on the clock. MU answered with a 14-3 run, capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Tyler Deal and T.J. Gill to move within a single point (53-52) with 10:56 remaining. However, the Scots responded with a 14-5 scoring run of their own to regain a 10-point lead on Joey Bodewig's layup with 6:43 to play.
 
Methodist managed to pull within five points several times down the stretch, the last time coming on a Gill triple at the 1:24 mark, but the Scots made 5-of-6 of their free throws down the stretch to hold off Methodist.
 
In the first half, Maryville assumed a 19-11 lead on Oscar Butler's layup with 9:23 to play. Methodist came back to even the score at 23-23 by the 4:57 mark with a 12-4 run, including four points apiece from Keith Corbett and Tabias Hilliard. The Scots then closed the first half on a 15-10 run, getting 10 points from Jaumonee Byrd, to take a 38-33 lead into halftime.
 
Methodist finished the game at 44.8 percent shooting (30-67) from the floor, but hit on just 39.5 percent (15-38) in the second half. Maryville shot 49.1 percent from the floor (27-55). The Scots also boasted a sizable advantage at the line, hitting on 22-of-31 free-throw attempts (.710), compared to just 7-of-14 shooting from the charity stripe (.500) for the Monarchs. MU also held a 40-35 edge in rebounds.
 
Hilliard led Methodist with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Corbett chipped in a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds and Gill added 13 points. Bryan Hockaday added six points and 11 boards in the loss.
 
Byrd led all scorers with 19 points to go with eight rebounds. Christian Ford added 17 points and five assists, and Bodewig added 18 points and five boards off the bench.
 
Methodist returns to the court on Saturday when it hosts Piedmont at 4:00 pm.