Tre’ McLean’s 25 points and career-high 11 rebounds led the Chattanooga Mocs to a 76-68 win at ETSU Saturday afternoon. The win is the third in the last week for the Southern Conference-leading Mocs over the second-place team in the standings.
“Someone asked me about (Tre’) and how he looked like one of the more dejected guys about what happened on Thursday,” coach Matt McCall stated. “It’s because he’s a winner. He puts the team first. He’s all about the team, and he’s all about winning.
I’m proud of him being able to bounce back and perform the way he did. His focus was on the right thing.
“The last time we played them it was like a shootout,” he continued. “I told our guys coming in that we can’t make this into a shooting contest. We can’t rely on our offense in a game like this. We need to sit down and get really good stops defensively. I thought in the first half we did a really good job especially defensively. We were terrific.”
It’s McLean’s first “20 & 10” effort of his career. He also tied his career best with four steals. Dee Oldham had 10 points, while Greg Pryor tallied 10 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Ge’Lawn Guyn scored 24 to lead the Bucs. Isaac Banks added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Eric Robertson had two dramatic treys today. He gave his squad its largest lead, 16, with 10:57 to play. They maintained a double-digit advantage until under five minutes to play.
Johnathan Burroughs-Cook ended a five-minute field goal drought with a layup off a great feed from Robertson to get it back to 10, 69-59. Three ETSU free throws on six tries cut it to seven, when Robertson had the signature play. His triple from top right with 1:28 to play quelled any doubts the Mocs may have had.
The lead swelled to 12 in the final minute before completing the eight-point win 76-68.
“We made stops when we needed to,” McCall added. “We made free throws when we needed to. Johnathan Burroughs-Cook goes to the line and makes three huge free throws. I’m really proud of everyone who contributed tonight. Alex Bran was good in the game. He plays fearless. He goes in there and competes. And he’s a joy to be around every single day.
“The job that we did on Cromer and Guyn was ultimately the difference on the game.”
ETSU led by five early, 17-12, on a Guyn jumper. Chuck Ester’s dunk at 11:00 ignited a 14-2 spurt over the next four minutes to flip the lead to seven, 26-19, on a Dee Oldham layup.
Two Peter Jurkin free throws got the Bucs back within three, 26-23, with 4:20 until halftime, but they’d get no closer. McLean’s dunk with 33 seconds left capped an 11-3 run to send the Mocs into the break with an 11-point lead, 37-26.
The Mocs’ 12 steals are a season high against a DI opponent. They converted 12 ETSU turnovers into 22 points. Justin Tuoyo matched his career high of three steals.
The game ended Chattanooga’s seven-game-in-15-day gauntlet. The squad went 6-1 over that span beating four teams currently ranked in the top three in the conference standings.
UTC is off until Thursday when VMI comes to town for a 7 p.m., tip. It is Faculty Appreciation Night with a free ticket and dinner for the first 40 faculty members to register for the event. A Yeti Cooler will be given away to a lucky student as well.