The Chattanooga Mocs (2-1) ran away from visiting Montreat (3-3) 108-51 this evening in McKenzie Arena. Five Mocs scored in double digits in the 57-point win.
“I thought that we did some good things,” Head Coach Will Wade noted after the game. “Forcing 20 turnovers is good, but I thought we took some steps back in other areas. Our half-court defense was better tonight than it has been.
“I was disappointed that we couldn’t get our full court pressure going tonight, we just didn’t have it tonight,” Wade continued. “We weren’t as into it as we needed to be. We’ve got to work on starting the games better. We haven’t started well all season.”
Gee McGhee (Baton Rouge, La.) led the way with 16 points and a career-high five steals. Z. Mason (Nashville, Tenn.) had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Casey Jones (New Orleans, La.) contributed 12 points with career highs in rebounds (7) and steals (3).
Mason and Jones paced a Chattanooga glass clearance tonight. The Mocs held a 47-25 margin on the boards and scored 26 second chance points on 19 offensive boards.
It was a two-point game early, 16-14 with 12:27 to go in the first half, when the Mocs defense changed the game. They went on a 31-11 run holding Montreat without a field goal for more than 10 minutes leading to a 21-point halftime cushion, 55-34.
A 10-0 run to open the second 20 minutes pushed the lead to 65-34 capped by a McGhee lay-in at 15:45. It swelled to 42, 87-45, on an Andrew Houts (Trenton, Ga.) three-pointer at 8:27.
The sequence of the night came from freshman post T.J. Williams (Wilmington, N.C.). He blocked Myles Marshall’s shot in the paint and hustled down court. He was rewarded by Jones who hit the big man for a thunderous slam making it a 52-point game, 101-49, with 3:50 to go.
La’Bris Adams scored 17 to lead the Cavaliers with 11 of his 17 coming at the free throw line. Melvin Irvin added 12 points.
Lance Stokes (Orlando, Fla.) also had a career high tonight with eight rebounds. Alex Bran (Memphis, Tenn.) and Martynas Bareika (Kedainiai, Lithuania) came off the bench to score 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Chattanooga shot 55.7 percent (39-70) from the field including 43.5 percent (10-23) from beyond the arc. It limited its visitors to 37.8 percent shooting, a mere 29.2 percent (7-24) after the break.
The Mocs remain home welcoming Kennesaw State on Tuesday, November 19. The game tips off at 7 p.m., with the athletics department celebrating the career of local sports anchor Darrell Patterson who retires in December after nearly 40 years servicing the Chattanooga TV market at News Channel 9 (WTVC).