Sophomore Greg Pryor had 12-points for the Mocs.
photo by Tim Evearitt
Led by a balanced offensive attack with six players in double figures, the Chattanooga men's basketball team opened CHAOS 2 (i.e. 2014-15 season) with a 110-53 home win against Hiwassee College.
Sophomore point guard Greg Pryor and sophomore transfer Duke Ethridge led the Mocs with 13 points each followed by Casey Jones with 12.
Sophomore big man Justin Tuoyo had a game-high 13 rebounds along with 11 points.
"Justin is a diference maker for us and a high energy player," said UTC coach Will Wade. "He played well tonight with 13 boards, 11 points and no fouls which is key."
Hiwassee (0-7) was led by Joel Bailey with 14 points and five assists, while teammate Jacob Elliott contributed 11 points and six boards.
"I am pleased that we had a balanced scoring among our players so that we are not reliant on just one or two players to score the majority of our points," coach Wade stated.
"We are a good shooting team and we will get better as the season goes along. We had some first game jitters which is expected, but overall we played well."
Fast Start: The Mocs jumped out to a 9-0 led at the 17:00 mark on a junper by Chuck Ester.
Hiwassee got on the board on a free throw by Anthony Calloway followed by a jumper by Joel Bailey to cut the lead to 12-3 at 15:53.
Double Digit Lead - The Mocs led 14-3 on two free throws by Jones and Hiwassee was never within single digits again.
Long First Half: The 20 minute first half had 20 fouls, 32 free throws shot and it took 55 minutes to complete.
Fast Start Second Half: Mocs opened the second half with a 12-4 run for a 74-25 lead at 15:49 on a 3-pointer by Ronrico White.
Largest Lead: UTC by 57 - 110-53 - with 42 seconds remaiming in the game.
First D-I Game: Five Mocs played in their first NCAA D-I game and did well.
Chuck Ester (9 pts, 6 rbs, 2 assists, 2 steals), Tre Mclean (11 pts, 13 rebs, 2 blcks, 2 steals), K.J. Bates (3 rebs, 2 assists), Duke Ethridge (13 pts, 6 rebs, 1 assist), Shaq Preston (11 pts, 4 rebs), 2 assists, 2 steals),
"Those five played well in their first game at D-I and definitely contributed to the win," said coach Wade.
Good Shooting: Mocs shot 54% from the field (37-68) and held Hiwassee to 36.1% (22-61).
"We are a good shooting team, got some good looks and our shooting will only get better as the season goes on," coach Wade stated.
In FGs, Pryor was 5-7, Tuoyo was 4-6, Ethridge was 4-5, Ronrico White was 3-4
Aggressive Defense: The Mocs had 25 steals, Hiwassee had 25 turnovers, Mocs had 41 points off turnovers.
Coach Wade on Defense: "We are built for an aggressive defensive game, a full court press type of team ... we have got to be aggressive to be successful. We are not built for a passive game>"
11, 100 Point Games in Season Openers: UTC has scored 100 or more points 11 times in season openers since the Leon Ford-coached Mocs defeated Bryan College, 100-61 to open the 1968-69 campaign.
UTC 110, Hiwassee 53
Hiwassee 21 - 32 -- 53
UTC 62 - 48 -- 110
UTC 1-0 Hiwassee 0-7
Next Game: Sunday Nov. 16 at No.3 Wisconsin.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
Shaq Preston above the rim for a slam dunk. Preston finished with 11 points.
photo by Tim Evearitt