Monday was a great day at McKenzie Arena if you’re a fan of the Chattanooga Mocs basketball teams.
Both Chattanooga teams won and both are now over the .500 mark with identical records of 4-3, the Chattanooga women winning their second straight game with a 66-60 victory over Lipscomb while the Chattanooga men won their fourth straight game with a come-from-behind 85-78 win over Tennessee State in the opening game of the Coke Classic.
And it was especially rewarding for Chattanooga senior Trey Bonham, who was named as the pre-season Southern Conference Player of the Year. Bonham has had a slow start compared to what he did last season as he was averaging just 10 points per game to start, but he played more like his old self as he scored a season-high 28 points on Monday to propel his teammates to a big win. He entered Monday night’s game with 1,181 career points and has 1,209 following his latest effort.
UTC coach Dan Earl certainly wasn’t happy at the start of the game when the Tigers scored five quick points in the opening minute, but he was much happier a little later after his team had posted another win.
“We’re still a work in progress, but when it counted, we played with a lot of toughness. We knew that Tennessee State has a physical team and we had to play more that style too, but at the end of the day, we made enough plays to get another win,” he began his post-game media interview.
“I really felt sorry for Sean Cusano, one of our new guys who got some good looks but didn’t make a shot from the field. However, he contributed with nine rebounds, so there’s more than one way to make positive contributions.
“Trey (Bonham) had an absolutely great game, but right now we’re just looking for more consistency. We are blessed to have some pretty good depth. We did more talking about game strategy at halftime than anything else, but we are still a long way from playing up to our potential. We still have a lot of room for growth, but to win four in a row when we aren’t playing our best makes me really happy,” Earl added.
The Tigers had the upper hand for the entire first half as that early 5-0 lead stretched to 11 points at 20-9 following a bucket by Justus Jackson with 13:07 to play. Bonham, who had 10 straight points at one stretch and had 16 in the half, cut the Tiger lead to 37-31 with a nice drive in the closing seconds.
The Mocs came out firing in the second half and scored six of the first eight points, including two free throws by Bash Wieland with 18:25 to play that cut the TSU lead to 39-37. Latif Diouf put the Mocs ahead for the first time some 42 seconds later with a layup and it was a real battle from that time on.
There were five lead changes and four ties in the second half, the last tie at 57-57 when Knute Wood bagged a 3 from the key with 12:10 to play. Honor Huff then made three straight free throws with 12 minutes to play for a 60-57 lead as Chattanooga never trailed again.
The free throw line played a major part in Chattanooga’s win as they hit 13 straight counting Huff’s three and finished the half by making 24 of 29 after making just four of seven in the first half.
Collin Mulholland sank two charity tosses with 4:42 to play to give the Mocs their biggest lead of 10 points at 77-67. Jackson got the Tigers within seven at 83-76 with 29 seconds to play and that was the final margin of victory as each team made two more free throws the rest of the way.
Bonham was the Chattanooga leader with his 28 points, but he also had seven rebounds, four assists and just one turnover in 33-plus minutes of action. Huff followed with 19 points. Collin Mulholland was a third UTC player in double figures as he finished with 10.
Brandon Weston scored 21 points to lead four TSU players in double figures. Jackson added 15 while Aaron Nkrumah and Carlous Williams scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Nkrumah led the Tigers with eight rebounds as his team won that battle by a 40-34 margin. Cusano had nine to lead Chattanooga.
While Tennessee State will play Bryant University on Tuesday afternoon, the Mocs finish the tournament against Bryant on Wednesday.
TENNESSEE STATE (78) – Carlous Williams 12, Langlais 8, Aaron Nkrumah 13, Justus Jackson 15, Brandon Weston 21, Jessamy, Ogundele 3, Lorick III, Wood 6, Bodenhamer, Fleming.
CHATTANOOGA (85) – Diouf 5, Keeslar 7, Trey Bonham 28, Honor Huff 19, Wieland 7, Richards 6, Melson 1, Cusano 2, Kostel, Collin Mulholland 10. Robinson.
FIELD GOALS: Tennessee State 30 of 72 for 41.7 percent; Chattanooga 25 of 57 for 43.9 percent;
THREE-POINT GOALS: Tennessee State 9 of 28 for 32.1 percent (Williams 1-4, Nkrumah 1-6, Jackson 3-8, Weston 2-6, Wood 2-3, Fleming 0-1); Chattanooga 7 of 30 for 23.3 percent (Keeslar 1-1, Bonham 3-8, Huff 3-9, Wieland 0-3, Cusano 0-5, Kostel 0-1, Mulholland 0-3);
FREE THROWS: Tennessee State 9 of 14 for 64.3 percent; Chattanooga 28 of 36 for 77.8 percent;
ASSISTS: Tennessee State 11 (Jackson 4); Chattanooga 8 (Bonham 4, Huff 2);
TURNOVERS: Tennessee State 13 (Jackson 3, Williams, Weston and Ogundele with two each); Chattanooga 9 (Huff 2, seven others with one each);
STEALS: Tennessee State 4 (Langlais, Nkrumah, Jackson and Bodenhamer with one each); Chattanooga 5 (Huff, Richards, Melson, Cusano and Kostel with one each);
BLOCKS: Tennessee State 3 (Williams 2); Chattanooga 5 (Cusano 2);
HALFTIME SCORE: Tennessee State 37, Chattanooga 31;
ATTENDANCE: 3,002.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)