MARYVILLE, Tenn. -- The Methodist men's basketball team dropped an 85-75 contest to Maryville on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Monarchs (10-3, 5-1 USA South) scored the first 10 points of the contest, including baskets from four different players. The Scots (10-3, 7-0) finally got on the board at the 13:49 mark after a layup by Daquan Summers before consecutive baskets by Davion Ayabarreno edged the Monarch lead to 12 points (14-2) with 12:18 on the clock.
 
A jumper by Rae Hall at the 7:17 mark gave MU a 19-point advantage (24-5). MC worked the deficit down to 14 points (24-10) after a dunk by Emier Bowman, but a three from Ayabarreno put the Monarchs back up by 17 points with 5:44 left in the half. The Moanrchs held Maryville to just 29.4 percent from the floor (10-34) in the first half as it held a 37-23 lead at halftime.
 
The second half started with the Scots scoring eight of the first nine points to cut the lead to seven points (38-31) with 18:39 remaining. A free throw by Bryan Rouse and a pair of baskets by Troynell Reese gave the Monarchs a 12-point edge (43-32) at the 16:53 mark before MC rattled off an 18-5 run capped by a trey from DJ Sanders to take a two-point lead (50-48), which was its first of the game.
 
Maryville pulled ahead, 61-52, before Jackson Whitley drained a pair of free throws and a jumper to bring the Monarchs within five with 7:42 left in regulation, but that was as close as MU would get as the Scots held on for an 85-75 victory.
 
Ayabarreno led the Monarchs with 22 points, while Whitley finished with a double double of 16 points and 15 rebounds to go along with three blocks. Rouse registered 15 points with four rebounds and four steals, as Hall posted 15 points to go with five assists and four rebounds. Reese also contributed eight points and seven rebounds as the five starters accounted for all 75 points.

For the Scots, Dante Hoppa finished with 22 points on 7 of 10 shooting, while Kaleb Estes tallied 17 points with nine rebounds and five assists.
 
MU finished at 47.5 percent (28-59) from the floor after hitting nearly 60.0 percent of its shots in the first half. The Monarchs also finished 16-23 (.696) from the line. Maryville made over 70 percent of its shots iin the second half to finish at a 49.2 clip (32-65) and was 16-24 (.667) from the free throw line. MC also outrebounded MU 39-35.
 
Methodist returns to action tomorrow against Berea beginning at 2 pm.