Maryville men’s basketball team meets Bellarmine in GLVC Tournament

The Maryville Saints begin postseason play Thursday (March 7) in the 2013 Deaconess GLVC Tournament.

The Saints set a school record for wins in a season with 23 and are 23-8 overall heading into the tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. The previous record for wins was 21 and it was set by the 1978-79 squad.

Maryville earned a first-round bye in the tournament. The Saints, the No. 4 seed, will face No. 5 seed Bellarmine in the quarterfinals. If the Saints advance to the semifinals, they would face the survivor of the No. 1 Drury-No. 8 Indianapolis game Saturday (March 9) in a Noon game. The championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday (March 10).

The GLVC has partnered with America One to video stream all tournament games on-line. Cost of each game is $9. Links can be found at www.glvcsports.com.

If the Maryville reaches the GLVC Championship game Sunday, Saints fans can listen to “Voice of the Saints” Jim Powers on www.maryvillesaints.com/showcase.

The Saints finished the season on a high note. Asa Toney poured in 26 points to pace Maryville to a 74-65 victory over visiting city rival Missouri-St. Louis at Moloney Arena. Gerald Shaw added 14 points to pace the attack. Maryville shot 53.2 percent from the field while holding the Tritons to just 34 percent accuracy.

Now, Maryville meets the Knights, who were No. 15 in the last NCAA Division II poll. Bellarmine is 21-6. The Knights posted a 79-57 win over Illinois Springfield in the first round of the tournament. Vance Hall tops the team at 15.4 points a game and is shooting 56.3 percent from the field, including 47.7 percent from 3-point range. Chris Dowe is second on the squad at 14.4 points a game, brings down 5.2 rpg and has distributed 128 assists.

The Knights lead the GLVC in field goal percentage (51.1) and are second in free-throw shooting (77.6) and 3-point field goal percentage (39.5). The Saints rallied to win the first meeting Jan. 12 in St. Louis 69-64.

Toney leads the team with 14.7 points a game average and 58 steals and is second in the league with 131 assists. Armon Provo is second on the squad with a 12.2 scoring average, 83 assists and 47 steals. Shaw, the lone senior, adds 10.5 points a game. Trae Pemberton chips in 9.8 ppg and ranks fourth the GLVC in 3-point field goal percentage at .467.

The Saints are second in the GLVC and 20th in the nation in scoring defense at 61.7 points per game. Head coach Kevin Carroll is in his third year at Maryville and has compiled a 43-41 overall record.