Chattanooga Legends Taylor, Wilkins and White would be pleased

Led by a season-high five players in double figures, Chattanooga continued the extended UTC Basketball Legends Weekend on a positive note with an 89-76 win against The Citadel Thursday at McKenzie Arena before an announced attendance of 2,549.

 Freshman Gee McGhee led all Moc scorers with a career-high 22 points as the victors improve to 7-15 overall, 4-8 in the Southern Conference, snap a four-game losing streak and have now won five of the last six at home.

 The Citadel falls to 6-16 overall and 3-9 in the SoCon.

 The UTC Lady Mocs opened the long home weekend with a 60-46 victory Wednesday night against Samford.

 The other four Mocs in double figures were Ronrico White with 19, followed by Drazen Zlovaric with 18, Z. Mason with 14 (all in the second half) and Martynas Bareika with 12.

Using an effective 1-2-2 full court press and several hot-shooting hands, the Mocs led 44-37 at halftime.

The Blue and Gold turned six turnovers into 17 first half transition points and shot 51.4% from the field (18-35) for the seven point advantage at the break. The Citadel also shot well (13-23, 56.5%) from the field, but had no points off turnovers and the Mocs led in second chance scoring, 12-4.

“UTC’s press bothered us, and while it wasn’t the reason we lost, it was a factor,” said The Citadel coach Chuck Driesell.

Overall, UTC led in steals, 7-4, as well as points off turnovers, 23-5 and 22-8 in second chance points, while the Bulldogs had 16 turnovers to the Mocs’ season-low of eight. The Citadel won the battle on the boards, 34-31.

Zlovaric had the Mocs off to the fast start, hitting seven of his first 10 shots and scored a career first half-best of 14 points.

“The Citadel doesn’t double team down low much so that frees Drazen up to take it to the basket and he did so effectively,” said UTC coach John Shulman.

“It was nice to play with a lead as we had the mind set of being down 10 and playing hard the entire game,” said Ronrico White who tossed in 19, including three treys and was 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

Zlovaric vs. The Citadel: Senior Drazen Zlovaric has scored double figure points in all three games with The Citadel in the past two seasons 18 tonight, 14 earlier this season and 11 in the ony meeting last year.

Dayle May Awards: Mark Cole (cross country) and Morgan Buchanan (cross country) received engraved gold watches from Day May Jewelers during halftime ... the annual award goes to the male female student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average ... Buchanan has a 3.97 overall GPA and is majoring in early childhood education ... Cole has a 3.85 overall GPA and is majoring in biochemistry. ... making the presentation were Mrs. Jerry Tessmann of Dayle May Jewelers, her son David, her granddaughter Mary Lillian, and her grandson, John David.

Legends Weekend Continues:

Saturday Doubleheader:  5 p.m. UTC Lady Mocs vs. Elon

7:30 p.m. - UTC Men vs. the College of Charleston

Game Statistics

Feb. 7, 2013 at  McKenzie Arena

CHATTANOOGA 89, THE CITADEL 76
THE CITADEL (6-16, 3-9 SoCon)
HORGAN, P.J. 7-8 10-12 25; GROSELLE, Mike 9-14 1-1 19; ROBINSON, Raemond 3-9
0-0 9; VAN SCYOC, Matt 2-6 2-3 7; ELMORE, Stephen 3-4 0-0 6; MOORE, Ashton
2-5 0-0 5; HARRIS III, Marshall 0-2 3-6 3; JENKINS, Janeil 0-0 2-2 2;
SETZEKORN, Dylen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 18-24 76.

CHATTANOOGA (9-14, 4-6 SoCon)
McGHEE, Gee 8-12 5-6 22; WHITE, Ronrico 5-11 6-6 19; ZLOVARIC, Drazen 9-13
0-0 18; MASON, Z. 6-11 2-4 14; BAREIKA, Martynas 5-9 0-0 12; COBB, Farad 1-3
0-0 2; STOKES, Lance 0-2 2-4 2; BRYANT, Jared 0-0 0-0 0; ROBERTSON, Eric 0-2
0-0 0; WATSON, Sam 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 34-65 15-20 89.
The Citadel...................   37   39  -   76
Chattanooga...................   44   45  -   89
3-point goals--The Citadel 6-19 (ROBINSON, Raemond 3-8; VAN SCYOC, Matt 1-4;
MOORE, Ashton 1-4; HORGAN, P.J. 1-1; SETZEKORN, Dylen 0-1; HARRIS III,
Marshall 0-1), Chattanooga 6-14 (WHITE, Ronrico 3-6; BAREIKA, Martynas 2-3;
McGHEE, Gee 1-1; COBB, Farad 0-1; ROBERTSON, Eric 0-1; MASON, Z. 0-2).
Fouled out--The Citadel-None, Chattanooga-None. Rebounds--The Citadel 28
(HORGAN, P.J. 10), Chattanooga 28 (ZLOVARIC, Drazen 7; McGHEE, Gee 7).
Assists--The Citadel 21 (HARRIS III, Marshall 9), Chattanooga 16 (STOKES,
Lance 5). Total fouls--The Citadel 15, Chattanooga 17. Technical fouls--The
Citadel-None, Chattanooga-None. A-2,549

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net