Casey Jones had 13 points and 5 rebounds in tonight's 86-64 win against VMI
photo by Tim Evearitt
On a night Chattanooga out-ran and out-scored the fastest team in the nation, the host Mocs defeated VMI, 86-64, in a men's Southern Conference men's basketball game at McKenzie Arena before 3,190 fans.
Better known as the Nevada Las Vegas of the East, the Keydets came to town leading the nation in possessions (77), 3-point attempts and 3-pointers made and topped the SoCon in several other categories, including scoring average (82.9).
But the Mocs, who improved to 13-7 overall and 6-1 in the SoCon, had half as many turnovers (VMI led 22-10), had more steals (UTC, 11-4) and shot the ball better (48.4% to 30.9%) to improve the home record to 10-2.
"We are not a selfish team at all, we were able to find the open man in transition and we took care of the ball," said junior Ronrico White who had 15 points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals in 26 minutes.
The Mocs were led by Eric Robertson who had a game-high 17 points, followed by White and his 15, while Casey Jones added 13 and Justin Tuoyo contributed with 10.
VMI was led by Phillip Anglade with 16 points and seven rebounds and Julian Eleby with 10 points and five boards.
* First Place: The Mocs and Wofford are tied for first at 6-1 while Mercer (6-2) lost at Western Carolina. Samford picked up its first SoCon win defeating UNCG at home.
* First Half: The Mocs built a 14-point lead at 24-10 at 8:32 on a pair of White free throws, but VMI went on a 12-0 to make it 24-22 at 5:32.
But Eric Robertson then drained a pair of 3s (he was a perfect 3-3 beyond the arc) to kick start a 17-9 Mocs run down the stretch to head to the locker room up 10, 41-31
"I have been working on my shooting in practice and I think I shot well tonight," said Robertson.
* Second Half: The Mocs led by 18 at 9:36 on a White jumper, extended that lead to a game-high 23 on a pair of Greg Pryor free throws (77-54, 5:24) and closed it out at 86-64 on a dunk by Duke Ethridge with 25 seconds remaining.
"Our guys did a nice job tonight of taking care of the ball with only 10 turnovers and our players liked the (fast) pace of the game," said UTC coach Will Wade.
"We were able to clog up the 3-point line as that was a focal point in practice."
** Key Stats: UTC was able to hold the Keydets to 18 points under their scoring average .... held them under their 3-point average ... was 13 made per game, tonight they made 7 ... attempts were 37 per, tonight was 25 ... opponents were committing 15 turnovers a game, the Mocs made only 10 ...VMI was averaging 8 steals a game ... tonight only 4
* Closing in on 700: The Mocs are 696-453 in the D-I Era ...
Chattanooga 86, VMI 64
VMI 31 - 33 -- 64
UTC 41 - 45 -- 86
Stats:
Points in the Paint: UTC, 50-23
Points Off Turnovers: UTC, 23-7
2nd Chance Points: VMI, 15-12
Fast Break Points: UCT, 6-2
Bench Points: UTC, 36-32
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net