The Chattanooga Mocs scraped and clawed and battled, but could not hold off Wofford’s Fletcher Magee in a 74-64 loss Saturday evening. Magee scored a career-high 45 points making a McKenzie Arena record 11 threes.
Makale Foreman led the Mocs with 18 points and three assists. Nat Dixon contributed 16 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Makinde London added 12 points and seven boards tying James Lewis, Jr., for game-high honors.
Two Lewis, Jr., free throws got his squad within three, 60-57, with 4:50 to play.
It would take more than three minutes for the Mocs to score again as the next four possessions were limited by two turnovers and two missed layups.
The Terriers took advantage. Keve Aluma started it with a dunk at 3:41. Magee followed with a layup and 3pt, No. 10 on the night, to get the lead to 10, 67-57, at 1:55. The Mocs were down, but not out.
London’s layup at 1:44 got things going. David Jean-Baptiste made a steal out of the press and two free throws to cut it to six, 67-59, with 1:37 to go.
They went for the defensive stop instead of fouling. The tactic was spot on as Magee’s three was off the mark. Foreman rebounded and was fouled with 1:02 to go. He made one of the two for a five-point deficit, 67-62.
Chattanooga focused on defense again. The Terriers worked the entire shot clock. Magee found No. 11 to quell the rally. Trevor Stumpe hit his free throws down the stretch for the 74-64 final tally.
“Guys like that, especially great shooters, it only takes a couple of them to get them started,” junior Nat Dixon explained about guarding Magee. “He’s a great shooter, and he has an awkward shot so it’s really hard to play defense on him. Guys were there, and he just kept knocking down shots. We were talking to each other the whole game.
“At the end of the day, he’s going to make some of those. We just have to capitalize where we can and we’re still in the game all the way through.”
It was a nip-and-tuck battle throughout. Neither team led by more than four over the first 22 minutes. Foreman’s triple at 17:47 put the Mocs up 37-32. Stumpe’s three-pointer a minute later started a stretch of four straight scoring possessions for the visitors. Nathan Hoover’s jumper with 14:17 to play tied the score at 43-all.
The two continued to trade blows with Dixon giving UTC a one-point cushion, 48-47, on a jumper with 11:10 left. Magee put Wofford up for good two possessions later.
“Maybe one possession we altered something, but not really,” Coach Lamont Paris responded to a question about deviating from the game plan when a shooter is having a night like Magee’s. “He had a good night shooting the ball. The one that hurt us the most, we had a five-point play. We come down, we turn the ball over, they kick ahead in transition, he catches and shoots. It’s hard to get back and get matched up when you’re in scramble mode.
“He dribbles and shoots in Josh’s face. He dribbles and shoots in another guy’s face. When that’s part of the scouting report, there’s no deviation from that. How we guarded was a deviation of how we said we would guard him.
“Out of what they do, he caught the ball off the screen, which was a result of how we guarded it, put it on the floor and take a really difficult shot off the dribble. Again, on our defender who had recovered and did not guard him closely enough to make him do something that we said he doesn’t do as well. Then sometimes we did play it well. He took a very difficult shot and made it.”
The Mocs return home Saturday hosting Wofford in a double date with the women’s program. The ladies square off at 2 p.m., with the men matching up at 5 p.m. It is Senior Day for both teams.