The Chattanooga Mocs completed their 2017-18 season Saturday with a 77-59 loss to ETSU in the Southern Conference Championships. What began as a promising start, turned into a tough ending, and beginning.
“[ETSU] has a good team,” Coach Lamont Paris began. “I do not think there are any secrets there. They attacked the rim, and the got the ball in the paint and around the basket early and often. We just did not do good job of keeping them out of the paint.
“That led to some easy baskets, which led to momentum.
We did not end the (first) half the way we wanted to.”
The Mocs led 30-29 with 3:56 to go in the opening frame on Makale Foreman’s step-back jumper. It was just the third lead for the Mocs despite the close nature of the first 17 minutes.
The good guys made just one basket over the next 10:20 of the clock time. The Bucs 21-3 spurt over that stretch broke it open leading 50-35 after Makinde London ended the drought with a jumper with 13:36 to go.
Foreman concurred with his coach’s assessment, “[ETSU] had a good run towards the end of the half. We did not get the stops that we needed, and that carried over in the second half.”
Down 17 after Desonta Bradford’s subsequent put-back layup, the Mocs made a run of their. It started with two Foreman free throws after Bo Hodges’ technical foul. Two offensive rebounds followed and James Lewis, Jr.’s dunk cut it 13. Foreman’s three after a defensive stop made it a 10-point game, 52-42, with 11:31 remaining.
Foreman hit three free throws on the next possession to get it to nine, 10:41, completing a 9-2 spurt. ETSU scored on four of its next five possessions to end the threat.
The Mocs complete their season while the Bucs advance to the SoCon semifinals. Keep an eye on GoMocs.com for news on the roster, schedule and tickets throughout the summer.