UTC Men Defeat UNCG, 81-72

Chattanooga men's basketball coach Will Wade was, of course, pleased with tonight's 81-72 Southern Conference home win against UNC-Greensboro at McKenzie Arena before 4,177 fans.

One of the keys to victory was the second half rebounding effort by the Mocs.

"The key to the game was allowing them only two offensive rebounds in the second half and no second chance points," said Wade in post-game comments to the media.

"They had the advantage 8-3 on the offensive boards in the first half and led in second chance points, 11-3. But in the second half, we controlled the offensive glass (7-2) and led in second chance points, 6-0."

The Mocs improve to 14-7 overall and 7-1 in the SoCon, while UNCG falls to 6-15 overall and 2-6 in league play. The Mocs and Wofford are tied for the league lead at 7-2, with Mercer in second place at 7-2.

* UNCG Foul Trouble: While the Spartans were controlling the glass in the first 20 minutes, their big men were in foul trouble.

R.J. White (6-8) leads the SoCon on the boards (7.4 rbpg), had only one board along with two fouls by intermission and eventually fouled out with only three total rebounds and played only 11 minutes.

Jordy Kuiper (6-9) had three first half fouls, finished with four and scored six points in 16 minutes. Kayel Locke (6-5) had two first half fouls, finished with four and scored 12 points in 31 minutes.

"It was a physical game under the boards tonight as they have one of the best front lines in the league and I was able to do my best and contribute," said UTC center Justin Tuoyo who scored 18 points along with four blocked shots and a team-high nine boards.

The Mocs did well on offense as well,  as Greg Pryor led all Mocs with 19 points, while two others who made double figure scoring were Marty Bareika (14 pts.) and Eric Robertson (13 pts). Coming off the bench, those two were a combined 6-12 from beyond the arc.

UNCG also had four players in double figures led by Tevon Saddler (22), Diante Baldwin and Kayel Locke with 12 each and Marvin Smith (10).

* First Half:  in a fast-paced  well-played first 20 minutes the Mocs shot 60% from the field (15-25) and 58% from 3-pt land (7-12) to hold a seven point advantage at intermission, 44-37.

But  the Mocs needed that good shooting hand since UNCG took more shots (33) and made more (16) overall, (48.5%) but were only 2-7 from beyond the arc and 3-4 at the line (UTC was 7-14 from the line).

 

The Spartans won the battle on the glass (20-15) and it translated into points in the paint (20-12).

* Good 3s: Marty Bareika and Eric Robertson came off the bench and combined for 6-8 from 3-point land.

UNCG was led by Tevon Saddler with 12 points while Marvin Smith added nine points and five boards.

 

* Second Half: While the Spartans opened with a 9-0 run to lead 46-44 at 18:27 capped by a  3-pointer by Nicholas Pointer, it was short-lived as Tuoyo completed a three point play (lay up and free throw) to make it 47-46 Mocs 30 seconds later and UNCG never led the rest of the game.

 

UTC was up eight at 68-60 (6:55) on five straight free throws and closed out the game with five of six made charity tosses in the final 30 seconds to win by nine.

 

* Next Game Black Out Thursday at Mercer ... UTC will take its 7-1 SoCon record to Mercer (6-2 in SoCon overall) Jan. 29 as the Bears (8-1 at home) will host Black Out Night with an expected crowd of 5,000 plus.

"It will be loud and a great atmosphere," said coach Wade

 

Chattanooga 81, UNCG 72

 

UNCG 37-35 -- 72

UTC 44 - 37 -- 81

 

Stats:

 

Points in the Paint: UNCG, 36-26

 

Points off Turnovers: UTC, 13-11

 

2nd Chance Points: UNCG, 11-9

 

Fast Break Points: UTC, 4-0

 

Bench Points: UTC, 36-16

 

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