Greg Pryor hit two free throws with 5.3 seconds to play to push his Chattanooga Mocs (7-2) to a 61-59 win at Dayton (7-2). The triumph snapped a 26-game home winning streak for the Flyers.
Pryor scored all of his team-high 15 points in the final 13:32 minutes of the contest. He was lone Moc in double digits, although three others scored seven to nine points with Duke Ethridge recording nine points and six rebounds off the bench. Tre’ McLean added eight points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Kendall Pollard led all scorers with 20 for the Flyers.
Kyle Davis chipped in 10, while Scoochie Smith had nine points and seven assists.
The Mocs led 29-24 at halftime, but saw that lead evaporate at the start of the second half. Dayton came out with a 13-2 run to flip the score quickly.
"They started the second half on a 13-2 run,” coach Matt McCall said. “I still felt like we were getting good shots, but some of them didn't go down. They were making some difficult ones, and we just had to stick to the course. I kept telling our guys in the huddle that we've been here before. We were up big on Illinois, they came back and we ended up winning the game. We were up big on Georgia, they came back and we ended up winning the game.
“So we've been here before and we had to keep pounding the rock, playing the right way and sticking with it right now.”
The Flyers led by six, 46-40, on Smith’s three-pointer at 9:30. Eric Robertson with triple of his own at 9:03 off an offensive board by McLean.
Pryor knotted it up 46-all 15 seconds later. He made a steal near midcourt and drilled a three from top left.
The lead see-sawed the rest of the way. Pryor’s jumper at the two-minute mark made it a four-point lead, 59-55. Dayton would not go away. Charles Cooke’s layup and 1-2 trips to the free throw line by Cooke and Pollard surrounded two turnovers and a missed shot to tie it at 59 with 34.4 to go.
Pryor ran the shot clock down and attacked. Coming off a screen he was fouled by Pollard with 5.3 to go. He calmly sank both free tosses. Smith streaked into the frontcourt and drove to the basket, but Tuoyo’s presence forced him underneath the basket. His shot was awry and the Mocs leave with a big win.
"Last play of the game, we tell Greg to run a spread pick-and-roll,” McCall added. “He really got at their five man. He got the guy on his heels, and he was able to get up there and get fouled. I don't think he scored in the first half, and he ended the game with 15 points and was 7-for-9 from the free throw line.
“That's what you want in your point guard. Those two at the end of the game were great.”
The Mocs faced more than enough adversity. Hostile crowd, lead flipped and star senior Casey Jones home with an ankle injury. Through it all, they battled through.
"The biggest thing I talked to the guys last night, and even a little bit in the locker room, was that we're built to handle adversity,” McCall continued. “We've been handling it all year. At Georgia, Tre McLean, Eric Robertson and Tuoyo were all in foul trouble. We also lost Duke to an injury, and we found a way to win that game.
“I'm not a big believer in 'man up or man down', and one of our biggest strengths is our depth. Everyone stepped up to play the game tonight. We really played the right way."
Pryor echoed his coach when asked about Jones’ absence, "We came out here tonight and played our hearts out for him. It showed our bond as a team, our love as a team and that we can win through any adversity. We came through and we stayed together. We always look at who we're playing for and what we're here for as a team."
Chattanooga returns home for three games before the holiday break. It starts Tuesday night at 7 p.m., with a visit from Tennessee Tech. That’s followed by contests against Kennesaw State (Dec. 18) and Radford (Dec. 22).
Check the men's basketball schedule page on GoMocs.com for links to tickets, video, audio and live stats. General Admission seats are $2 for the TTU and KSU matchups. Follow @GoMocsMBB for live tweets from the contest.