July 12, 2007

By Mike Griffith

Knoxville News Sentinel

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.-- Scott Williams provided the power for the News Sentinel Press, scoring a Pilot Rocky Top League record 61 points Wednesday night.

"My shot just kept falling, so I just kept on shooting," said Williams, a 6-foot-3 senior at Carson-Newman College. "My teammates kept telling me to shoot."

Williams made 23 of 36 shots from the field, including 6-of-13 beyond the 3-point arc and connected on 9 of 13 free throws in the News Sentinel's 126-124 win over SunTrust at Bearden High School.

The Press improved to 6-2 with the win heading into Monday's night's championship game against Toyota Knoxville (6-2) at 7:30 p.m.

Kingston Alley (4-4) will play in the third-place game against SunTrust (3-5) at 6. SunTrust edged out HT Group (3-5) for the No. 4 seed by virtue of a head-to-head win.

The News Sentinel won Wednesday despite playing without University of Tennessee transfers Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince and having six players to SunTrust's eight. SunTrust was missing UT players Ramar Smith and Steven Pearl.

Cameron Sharp (C-N) scored 27 for the News Sentinel while Courtney Pigram (ETSU) led SunTrust with 31 points and Justin Walker scored 27. Demonte Simpson, a 6-foot-9 prospect entering his junior year at Bearden, scored 10 for SunTrust. Simpson has been offered by Virginia Tech.

"We knew we needed Scott to score more tonight, but I had no idea he'd score that many," Press coach Andy Rhines said. "He can shoot the ball, and he's so strong he can finish when he drives.

"I don't know what he looked like coming out of high school, but he could play Division I ball now."

Williams, who attended Central High School in Macon, Ga., averaged 15 points and led the South Atlantic Conference with more than eight rebounds per game last season.

Prior to Wednesday night, Williams said he had never scored more than 36 in an organized game, high school or college.

"Now you see why we went box-and-one on him," said Toyota coach Rick Campbell, who singled out Williams rather than Tyler Smith or Prince in Toyota's win over the Press last week.

UT senior JaJuan Smith approached Williams after the game.

"Cancel my article and write about this man," Smith told the News Sentinel. "I had to stick around and see this and shake his hand."

Smith previously held the first-year league record with 50 points in a game.