The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team posted its fifth-straight Southern Conference victory with a battle-tested and gritty effort during a 91-85 victory at Western Carolina on Wednesday night inside the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, N.C.Â
Following its fifth-straight win, four coming on the road, Chattanooga improves to 15-7 overall and 7-2 inside SoCon play, remaining a game back of first place in the league standings. WCU falls to 16-6 overall and 5-4 in conference action after the defeat.Â
Trailing for the first 24-plus minutes of game play and by as much as 10, Chattanooga grabbed its first lead of the game on a Trey Bonham three at the 15:14 mark of the second half, 49-48, and led the entire way to the finish line. The game featured just that one lead change and no ties, marking another impressive road win for the squad.Â
"I thought that was a really gutty win. We weren't playing particularly well in the first half, especially offensively. We were turning it over too much and they came out firing on all cylinders," said head coach Dan Earl after the game.Â
"I'm just proud of the guys. To not play great in the first half, and just compete throughout, I'm really proud of them."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Western Carolina jumped out to an 8-4 lead the game's first media timeout (15:57) with four of the eight points coming from the charity stripe. Catamounts extended its lead to seven before a Jan Zidek corner three brought it back to four, 13-9, with 13:56 left in the first half.Â
Demetruis Davis cut it to two, 17-15 (11:01), on two-handed flush off an in-bounds pass under the hoop before WCU's Vonterious Woolbright converted an and-one moments later to push the hosts lead back to seven, 24-17 (8:35). WCU caught fire from deep over the next few minutes and built a double-digit lead, 30-20, at the 6:38 mark.Â
After a Trey Bonham finish at the rim, Chattanooga trailed 35-27 with 3:28 on the board. Down 40-30 a few possessions later, UTC ended the first half on an 11-3 run, capped off by a deep Bonham three at the buzzer to ultimately head into the break trailing by two, 43-41. The Mocs shot 58.6% (17-of-29) from the field over the first 20 minutes including 46.2% (6-of-13) from three.
Both teams came out of the second half with urgency as WCU remained in front by a pair, 48-46, at the first media timeout (15:57). Back-to-back triples from Bonham and Jan Zidek, followed by a Zidek bucket in transition, built Chattanooga its first lead of the game, 54-48 (13:10), and forced a Catamounts timeout.Â
Sam Alexis put together a successful and-one before an Honor Huff floater and another Alexis layup allowed for the Mocs to hold a 61-55 edge with 8:13 remaining in the contest. Alexis followed up with his first three of the game before WUC quickly answered, bringing the tally to 64-60 with 6:47 left.Â
Myles Che finished a tough basket on a hard drive to put UTC up 72-63 (5:21) ahead of a Western response that cut their deficit to six, 74-67 (3:12). In an absolute grind towards the finish, the two teams combined for 35 points over the final three-plus minutes.
As Woolbright continued to get to the rim in the waning minutes, UTC eventually sealed the deal with a nearly lights out performance from the free-throw line, ending the game 15-of-16 from the charity stripe to come away with the 91-85 victory. The Mocs finished the game shooting 59.6% (31-of-52) from the floor, 50.0% (12-of-24) from three and 89.5% (17-of-19) from the line during the winning effort.
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 15-7, 7-2 SoCon · Western Carolina 16-6, 5-4 SoCon · Series: UTC now leads the all-time series 71-31.
THREE KEY NOTES
1. Chattanooga picked up its fifth-straight win… four of the five have come on the road… last four-game SoCon road winning streak?... January 20-February 10, 2021… ties second-longest such streak in program history.Â
2. The Mocs featured another blistering shooting display after finishing 59.6% (31-of-52) from the floor… 50.0% (12-of-24) from deep… 17-of-19 (89.5%) from the line… fourth-straight game shooting 50.0% or better from the field in total… first time 50% or better in four-straight since December 18, 2018-January 3, 2019.Â
3. Honor Huff added 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting… knocked down three triples on five attempts… perfect 4-of-4 at the line… three boards, three steals and an assist… played all 40 minutes… first Moc to play all 40 minutes since Malachi Smith at Belmont December 15, 2021.
QUOTABLE
HC Dan Earl on closing things out down the stretch.
"Once we got legs under us, especially in the first ten minutes of the second half, I thought we did a really good job defensively. It helps when you make shots. We made the free throws down the stretch when things were not squared up. Everyone made the free throws and that was huge. It's a bit different when you miss those. It's tough when you have a guy like Woolbright on the other end who can just get downhill."Â
G Trey Bonham on trying to control Vonterious Woolbright.
"We knew he was going to get shots up. He has the second-highest usage percentage in the country. We just wanted to make sure to control everyone else around him."
NEXT UP – Samford – Saturday, February 3 – 4:30 p.m. ET – McKenzie Arena – ESPN+ – 90's NIGHT – DOUBLEHEADER (WBB 2PM VS. FURMAN)Â