The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team used a season-high 27-point performance from Trey Bonham and a stingy defensive effort down the stretch to help capture a key 74-60 victory at Mercer in Southern Conference action inside Hawkins Arena on Wednesday night. 

Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 11-7 overall and 3-2 inside SoCon play. Mercer falls to 8-10 on the season and 1-4 inside the league after the loss. 

"I think we had a good counter punch, if you will, and we knew Mercer wasn't going to go away. If I'm being critical, we've been allowing our offensive struggles to affect how we play defense," said head coach Dan Earl following the game. 

"They cut it to two or tied, whatever it was, but we regained our legs and went out and took on the game again. I thought we were better defensively down the stretch, and offense, but we closed it out. They kept fighting."

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mercer grabbed an 11-3 lead less than four minutes (16:52) in after UTC struggled to find the bottom of the net in the early going while also committing a pair of turnovers. The Mocs responded from a slow start with 14 of the game's next 16 points to jump ahead of the hosts, 17-15, with 7:37 remaining in the half. 

Trey Bonham led the initial charge and continued to direct the offense over much of the first half, scoring 12-straight points for UTC to help the guests grab a slight 24-21 edge with 3:08 on the board. Chattanooga ended the half on a 7-2 run, capped off by an Honor Huff three before the buzzer, to take a 31-23 lead into the break. 

Bonham led off the second half with the team's first five points to allow for a 36-25 lead, but Mercer quickly answered with a 9-0 run heading into the under 16 media to close the gap to two, 36-34 (15:41). The game turned into a back-and-forth affair over the next four minutes as the Bears eliminated their double-digit deficit, tying things up 45-45 with 11:41 left in the contest. 

Chattanooga built a two-possession lead after connecting on five-straight field goal attempts, re-claiming a 56-51 advantage at the 7:21 mark of the final half. UTC's defense held Mercer without a field goal for nearly a five-plus minute stretch to notch its biggest lead of the game, 68-56, with just 2:01 on the board. 

The Mocs would control things down the stretch and left Macon with a crucial 74-60 SoCon victory. UTC limited Mercer to a 33.8% (22-of-65) mark from the floor including a lowly 18.2% (4-of-22) tally from three.

RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 11-7, 3-2 SoCon · Mercer 8-10, 1-4 SoCon · Series: UTC now leads the all-time series 46-41.

THREE KEY NOTES 

1. Chattanooga had its three-point streak of six or more in 52-straight games snapped during the win… team finished 5-of-20 (25.0%)… the 52-straight game streak of 6+ 3PT FG's was the longest active such streak in NCAA DI… ended 10th longest in NCAA DI history. 

2. Trey Bonham finished with a game-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting… went 3-of-6 from deep… recorded his 300th career FG and 100th career 3PT FG with his first triple of the game… added four boards, two steals and an assist. 

3. UTC was out-rebounded in the win by a wide 43-34 (-9) margin… largest rebounding deficit in a win since a -11 tally during a win over Wofford on January 5, 2022… first time not ending with a rebounding edge in a SoCon game this season.

QUOTABLE 

HC Dan Earl on overall thoughts on Demetrius Davis' performance.

"I thought Demetrius [Davis] did a great job at that. Obviously, you look at the stat sheet and you look at points, assists, things that show up. But, if you can play with tremendous energy, I thought he did a really good job at that tonight. He was flying around, jumping passes, he was great in that area tonight." 

F Demetrius Davis on the team not knocking down six or more threes for the first time in 53 games.

"I didn't know we had that streak [laughing]. We've been working on getting downhill and not settling. We know we can shoot from three, but we also know we can get downhill. We're strong and athletic, so we just keep trying to get to the rim to make things easier."

NEXT UP – at ETSU – Sunday, January 21 – 3 p.m. ET – Johnson City, Tenn. – ESPN2