Casey Jones, Johnathan Burroughs-Cook and Greg Pryor combined for 64 points in the Chattanooga Mocs season-opening win at Georgia. The Mocs persevered as a team for the 92-90 overtime triumph in Stegeman Coliseum.
The squad led for a majority of the contest (37:05), but it had to overcome adversity in the second half to claim the gritty win.
“I really felt like our guys were in the moment the whole game,” coach Matt McCall said after claiming the win in his first collegiate game as a head coach.
“I never felt like they got really rattled. J.J. Frazier made some really tough shots down the stretch, and we did not get deflated. It was on to the next play.
“As a coach, I was really proud standing over here with that.”
The Mocs led by as many as 11, 42-31, in the second half on a strong Jones 3pt play with 18-plus left. UGA threw its punch going on a 35-18 run over the next 12 minutes to take control, so it would seem, after E’Torrion Wilridge’s layup at 5:57.
That made it a 66-60 Georgia.
“Coach (McCall) preaches to us at practice that we need to 'fight the circumstance',” Jones stated. “When we went down, that's what he was saying on the bench. The players were saying it on the bench. We just kept fighting. We get put in situations in practice, and they say they make it harder in practice than in a game, and that's what it was today.”
Jones scored seven of the next nine points sparking a 9-0 UTC spurt for a three-point cushion, 69-66 with 3:09 to go. The lead was two inside of a minute when J.J. Frazier drained a three-pointer for a one-point UGA advantage with 45 seconds to play. Justin Tuoyo calmly sank two free throws 21 seconds later to flip it back the Mocs way, 74-73.
Charles Mann stepped to the free throw line with 12.8 to go for the Bulldogs. He missed the first before making the second. A final contested look for Burroughs-Cook was off the mark sending the game into overtime.
Jones got it started with a basket followed by treys for Eric Robertson and Pryor to jump out by seven, 82-75 with 2:47 to go. The Bulldogs cut it to three before free throws from Pryor (2-2) and Dee Oldham (1-2) stretched it back to six with just over 42 seconds to play.
William Jackson banked in a three. Oldham sank two free throws. A Frazier triple was answered by a Burroughs-Cook free throw and a pivotal Pryor pilfer. The junior stole the ball from Frazier and hit two free throws 15 seconds remaining for the 92-87 lead.
Frazier hit another three, his fourth of the contest, to slice it to 92-90. Oldham missed two free throws, but the Mocs stifled the Bulldogs up the floor and Jackson’s desperation heave was well off the mark.
It was a great team performance with foul trouble hampering the Mocs much of the game.
“We settled in there, especially when they went up six,” McCall added. “I told them in the huddle when we were down six, listen, if you would have told me this would be the situation, I would take it every night. We are going to go and compete and fight and win this game.
“I thought Justin Tuoyo could have totally gone in the tank because of his fouls. He comes in late in the game, gets a huge rebound, huge dunk. I felt like he did an unbelievable job of moving on to the next play.
“It was a total team effort tonight, and I am really proud of the guys.”
It was a great start for the Mocs. Three Pryor triples sparked a 16-5 burst over the opening six minutes. UGA battled back to as close as a single point. 27-26 on a Yante Maten free throw with 3:30 until the break.
Chattanooga stretched it back to 11 after back-to-back threes from Peyton Woods and Burroughs-Cook capped a 12-2 run with the latter coming with 25 seconds to go. Mann drained a three of his own as time expired to make it a 39-31 halftime lead for the visitors.
It’s the first win over an SEC program for the Mocs since Dec. 5, 2004 at Tennessee (69-68)
“I told them at halftime, they are going to make a run,” McCall added. “It is not about when they make the run, it is about how you respond to it.”
He got the response he was looking for.
The Mocs return home Monday at 7 p.m., against Hiwassee. They follow with a weekend trip to Illinois and Iowa State before heading south to Niceville, Fla., for the Emerald Coast Classic Nov. 27-28. UTC opens with Alabama State and squares off with either Chicago State or Jacksonville State the next day.