It was a rare occurance Saturday as both the UTC men's and women's basketball teams lost Southern Conference games on the same day.
At ETSU, the host Bucs defeated UTC men, 76-71, and Furman women stopped visiting UTC, 65-48.
This Week: Home Doubleheaders -
Thursday Feb, 2 - 5:30 p.m. - UTC women host Mercer ... 7:30 p.m. UTC men host UNCG
First Place is on the line as UTC women and Mercer are tied for fist at 6-1
Saturday Feb. 4 - 2 p.m. UTC women vs Samford... 5 p.m. UTC men vs. Western Carolina
SoCon Standings
Women - UTC and Mercer are tied for first at 6-1 .. ETSU and Furman are tied for second at 6-2
Men - ETSU and Furman are in first at 7-2, while UNCG is third (7-3) and UTC is fourth at 6-3
ETSU Men 76, UTC 71
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.---The Chattanooga Mocs fell 76-71 Saturday afternoon at ETSU. Greg Pryor’s 21 points led the Mocs, while Desonta Bradford paced four in double digits for the Bucs with 19.
Justin Tuoyo’s three-point play with 40.1 seconds left got the Mocs within three, 72-69. On the ensuing Bucs possession, Pryor fouled Bradford with 25.3 seconds left. He hit both which sent the Mocs rocketing up the floor.
Casey Jones launched a three from the right wing that went in before rattling out. Bradford grabbed the rebound and sank two more free throws. Pryor ended the scoring with two free tosses with 11.4 to go.
It was a see-saw battle that saw eight ties and nine lead changes. The Mocs could not overcome the Bucs 15-rebound advantage or their 16 turnovers. Thirty-four of ETSU’s 76 points came off turnovers (20) or second chance points (14) on the offensive glass.
It marks back-to-back 20-point efforts for Pryor scoring 23 against VMI Wednesday night. Tuoyo added 15 points, three blocks and two steals. Hanner Mosquera-Perea added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Bucs, while Tevin Glass turned in a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. A.J. Merriweather chipped in 13.
ETSU built a seven-point lead on back-to-back alley oop dunks from Mosquera-Perea with 10:39 left in the game. The Mocs answered with a 9-1 run taking the lead, 54-53, on Johnathan Burroughs-Cook’s three from the right wing.
Tuoyo’s layup at 5:36 tied the score at 57-all. Bradford gave his team the lead for good on a 3pt coming off a turnover. It was an eight-point game with 1:33 remaining when Burroughs-Cook started the comeback with a 3pt play at 1:20. Bradford made one of two free throws 25 seconds later before Tuoyo’s and-one to cut it to three.
RECORDS
Chattanooga – 15-6, 6-3 in the SoCon. ETSU – 17-5, 7-2 in league play.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Bucs made 23 free throws which is the same amount the Mocs attempted for the contest. Click the stats link above for a complete look at today’s statistics.
QUOTABLE
"We talked about it before the game that if we kept them off the glass and took care of the ball, then we would win the game. We didn't do either of those. They had 20 points off our turnovers. When ETSU gets on the break with their athletes that makes them the team that they are, a really good team in this league. Two things we wanted to do in the game, we didn't do at the end of the day. If we eliminate those numbers, then we would have won the game." – Coach Matt McCall. For more thoughts from coach and student-athletes, click the quotes link above.
NOTABLE
Pryor’s 21 point vaulted him from 15th to 12th on the DI era scoring list passing the likes of Eric Smith, Tim Parker and Derrick Kirce. For further breakdown on stats and facts from today’s game, click notes link above.
SOCON SCOREBOARD
Samford 69, at VMI 67
Furman 73, at UNCG 67
at Mercer 82, The Citadel 66
Wofford at Western Carolina, 7 p.m.
NEXT UP
Thursday, Feb. 2 vs. UNCG. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m., airing on the WatchESPN app (ESPN3) as well as locally on the airwaves on Real 96.1 FM in Chattanooga
Furman 65, UTC 48
GREENVILLE, S.C. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team fell 65-48 at Furman Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action. The Mocs are now 12-9 on the year and 6-1 in league play while the Paladins improve to 12-11 overall and 4-2 against the conference.
The Mocs were 17-of-52 (32.7%) on the day, shooting just 2-of-16 in the fourth quarter. Senior Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.) recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Chelsey Shumpert (Paducah, Ky.) was 3-of-7 from beyond the arc for a team-high 13 points with three assists.
Furman’s Le’Jzae Davidson hit a 3-pointer midway through the second period to tie the game 14-14. Cierra Carter followed that with a layup less than a minute later and the Paladins would never trail again.
Furman outscored UTC 12-4 over the next 4:41, but back-to-back 3-pointers from junior Keiana Gilbert (Pulaski, Tenn.) and Shumpert at the end of the half cut the Paladins lead to 26-24 at intermission.
The third quarter saw the Paladins build up a 12-point lead, 41-29 with 5:16 to go in the period. The Mocs, however, battled back with a 12-5 run to make it 46-41 with 1:54 remaining in the third. Furman pushed its lead back to double figures just over a minute later, 51-41, and led by nine at the end of three.
The Paladins went on to outscore UTC 14-6 in the final period, snapping a 10-game Chattanooga win streak against Furman. The loss also snapped the Mocs’ seven-game win streak and a 14-game SoCon regular season streak.
Gilbert added nine points and eight rebounds with three blocked shots.
Next Game: Chattanooga will return home next week to host Mercer Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a double-header. The Bears defeated Samford Saturday and are now tied with the Mocs for first in the conference standings. Chattanooga beat Mercer 74-56 in Macon, Ga., earlier this year.
The Mocs will be celebrating Academic Night Thursday. Faculty and staff who show a valid MOCS ID card will gain free admission to the game. Mocs Maniacs t-shirts will be given away to students at the game. For tickets and more information, log onto the official Chattanooga website at GoMocs.com.
Furman 65, UTC 48
Furman 65, UTC 48
Furman 65, UTC 48
Furman 65, UTC 48
Furman 65, UTC 48