Second-Half Surge Leads Samford Past Chattanooga, 73-69

  • Thursday, January 23, 2025
  • Paul Payne
Frank Champion pushes the ball upcourt against Samford on Thursday night at McKenzie Arena
Frank Champion pushes the ball upcourt against Samford on Thursday night at McKenzie Arena
photo by Trevor Jolley/GoMocs.com

Everything seemed to be falling into place Thursday night for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the first half against league leader Samford, who has emerged into the kingpin of the Southern Conference.

Behind one of the Mocs’ most complete stretches of basketball all season in front of an energized crowd that included a packed student section at McKenzie Arena, Chattanooga owned a 16-point lead over the Bulldogs with a minute to play until intermission. Samford entered the contest averaging 85 points per game, and UTC’s suffocating defense had limited the Bulldogs to only 26 as the Mocs flipped the script on their recent habit of stumbling out of the gates from the opening tip.

Maybe this would be a turning point, a seminal moment for the UTC program to take a gargantuan step forward to insert itself into the conversation of being on equal footing with the Bulldogs. But over the game’s final 21 minutes, Samford proved once again why it has established itself as the team to beat in the SoCon.

Samford reeled off five points to close the first half down only 11, then parlayed a 13-0 spurt early in the second stanza as part of a 30-10 run to leave Chattanooga on the short end of a final 73-69 verdict. In the end, the Mocs found out that in order to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.

While outscoring UTC (12-8, 4-3 SoCon) by a 42-27 margin in the second half, Samford (16-4, 6-1 SoCon) connected on 54% of its shots and was perfect on 12 free throws. Meanwhile, the Mocs managed to shoot only 35% in the final 20 minutes – including 0-for-9 from 3-point range – and missed six critical free throws, two of which were the front end of a one-and-bonus. Additionally, the Bulldogs outrebounded their hosts by a 20-9 count in the second half.

"Credit to Samford, we all knew they weren't going to go away,” UTC head coach Dan Earl said. “We got off to a good start in the first half, but I think we did a little bit of us missing shots allowing it to affect our defense. It took a toll on our energy levels. We have to be better at that. When you go 0-for-9 from three, and miss six free throws, that's not ideal. We can't do those things. I just don't think we were very sharp in the second half.

"Really good basketball teams don't let making or missing shots affect you on the defensive side of the floor. That bothered us a lot. We have to keep it together in those moments and keep the intensity and energy up for an entire 40 minutes."

Despite trailing by nine with 4:34 remaining, Chattanooga battled back into position to saddle Samford with consecutive conference losses for the first time in two years in the final seconds. Down by two with 17 ticks on the clock, Frank Champion stole an inbounds pass and was able to find Honor Huff for an open 3-pointer, but the furious comeback fell short as the shot clanked off the iron and the Bulldogs secured the win with a pair of free throws after snagging the rebound.

Entering the game with a perimeter-oriented offense that averaged a dozen 3-pointers a game, Samford made an adjustment to take advantage of mismatches and pound the ball inside after halftime. Jaden Brownell, a senior forward transfer from Illinois-Chicago, scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as all 12 of the Bulldogs two-point baskets were scored in the paint.

Meanwhile, one of the strengths of the Chattanooga offense – free throw shooting – betrayed them in the second half. During a critical five-minute span that saw an 11-point lead turn into a two-point deficit, the Mocs missed five field goal tries and four straight free throws to open the door for the Bulldogs to take the lead with 11:58 remaining. They finished the night a respectable 20-of-26 on the evening from the charity stripe, but the timing of their misses was lethal.

As disappointing as the final half was for UTC, the opening frame was a veritable masterpiece. After Samford tallied the game’s first basket, the Mocs went on a 14-2 surge to quickly seize a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the contest. When the Bulldogs later trimmed the gap to a single point, Chattanooga steadily extended its advantage to 16 when Huff drained a 3-pointer and was fouled, converting the free throw to seemingly put the Mocs in control.

Bash Wieland led Chattanooga offensively with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line plus four rebounds and two assists. Trey Bonham added 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting (0-for-6 on 3-pointers) and was 5-of-7 from the charity stripe along with five rebounds and three assists.

Huff was the only other Moc in double figures with 11 points that came on a 3-of-9 shooting performance – including 2-of-7 beyond the arc – and converted all three of his free throw tries. Sean Cusano chipped in with five rebounds, while Champion added eight points and a team-high five assists.

Three other Bulldogs backed Brownell’s production with 10 points each including Trey Fort, Josh Holloway and Riley Allenspach, who scored all of his from the bench in the first half to keep Samford within range. Point guard Rylan Jones managed only seven points – well below his 14-point average – and was held scoreless until ten minutes remained in the game thanks to the relentless hounding of UTC’s Garrison Keeslar.

Chattanooga finished the night shooting 42% (22-of-53) and a meager 19% (5-of-26) from long-range. Samford shot 49% (26-of-53) and made only 5-of-17 3-pointers but was a near-perfect 94% from the charity stripe (16-of-17).

The Mocs have little time to lick their wounds as they must travel to Johnson City on Saturday to take on long-time rival ETSU in a game slated to tip at 4 p.m.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com

Sports
UT, UTC Basketball On TV
  • 2/17/2025

February 5 (Wednesday) Vols vs. Missouri, 7 p.m. SEC Network UTC at Wofford, 7 p.m. ESPN 2 February 6 (Thursday) Lady Vols vs. UCONN, 6:30 p.m. ESPN UTC Women vs. UNC Greensboro, ... more

Dalton State Sets Program Records With 114-60 Road Win
  • 2/7/2025

Two days after defeating ABAC (Ga.) at home, the #11 Roadrunners took to the road for a rematch with the Stallions and once again dominated, setting three new program records in a 114-60 win ... more

Lady Flames Hoops Earn 59-44 Conference Win
  • 2/7/2025

The Lee University women’s basketball team gained revenge for one of its four Gulf South Conference losses this season by defeating Valdosta State University 59-44 in a hard-fought defensive ... more