The Chattanooga Mocs (5-9) had an uncharacteristically off night on the boards leading to a 74-58 loss at Georgia Tech (10-2). The Yellow Jackets topped UTC 42-25 on glass which is a season-low total.
Farad Cobb (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Z. Mason (Nashville, Tenn.) scored 14 points apiece to pace the Mocs. Drazen Zlovaric (Novi Sad, Serbia) added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Marcus Georges-Hunt led all scorers with 16 for Tech. Robert Carter, Jr., chipped in 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Mfon Udofia added 14 points.
Chattanooga got off to a good start leading for a majority of the first half. Cobb’s midrange jumper at 8:48 gave his squad a seven-point lead, 17-10. Back-to-back foul calls on Mason put him on the bench for the final eight minutes.
That’s when Georgia Tech claimed the lead. An 18-6 run to close the half gave it a 28-23 halftime advantage. Cobb’s three to open the second half got the Mocs within two, but the Yellow Jackets used another extended run for a comfortable lead.
Tech took its largest lead as Kammeon Holsey capped a 32-16 run with a three-point play at 6:03. At 60-42, it appeared the Mocs were done. Someone forgot to tell them.
Two Cobb free throws closed the lead to 11, 60-49, at 4:28. UTC got within 11 three more times but could not mount a significant run.
The Yellow Jackets’ 16 rebounds and 21 second chance points are season highs by an opponent against Chattanooga this year. The minus-17 rebound margin is the most since minus-24 against UConn in the 2009 NCAA East Regional. The Mocs entered the game plus-seven per game on the glass for the season.
UTC scored 16 points off 13 Tech turnovers. That’s a season-best against a DI opponent in 2012-13. The 11 Mocs miscues are the fewest since 11 at LSU almost a month ago. The squad has just 35 (11.7/game) since coming back from the holiday break.
Neither defense allowed much in the first half, while both offenses picked it up in the second. Tech shot 47.4 percent (27-57) for the game, 34.5 percent (10-29) in the opening 20 minutes and 60.7 percent (17-28) in the second. Chattanooga managed just 32.1 percent (9-28) in the first half, but ended up at 42.0 percent (21-50) overall after a 54.5 percent clip (12-22) after intermission.
Tonight’s contest ended the non-conference portion of the schedule while also marking the first of four straight road games. The Mocs head to Birmingham Saturday for an 8 p.m., Eastern Time, matchup with Samford.
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