Former McCallie School star Parker Robison celebrates his 3-pointer made in the final moments of the Mocs win over Furman on Saturday
photo by Ray Soldano/GoMocs.com
The dynamic backcourt tandem of Honor Huff and Trey Bonham don’t mind shouldering the lofty expectations heaped upon them. In fact, they tend to thrive in the face of adversity, elevating their game when it matters the most.
This year’s talented University of Tennessee at Chattanooga squad has scoring options up and down the roster, creating more balance for the Mocs, thus becoming less reliant upon huge production from Huff and Bonham each time out.
But a quick glance at the halftime stats from Saturday’s contest at McKenzie Arena against visiting Furman left Chattanooga faithful feeling a tad uneasy given the fact the Mocs’ potent guard duo had combined for a measly two points, the Paladins having turned an earlier 10-point deficit into a 38-35 advantage at the midway point.
Bonham and Huff proved there was no need to fret. It was simply a matter of time before they unleashed their wizardry on their purple-clad guests as they tallied 12 points apiece in the second half, leading UTC to its fifth straight win by defeating Furman, 85-72.
Huff and Bonham were among five Chattanooga players to record double-digit points in the balanced attack, nudging the Mocs record to 17-8 overall and 9-3 within the Southern Conference. Thanks to Samford’s loss at ETSU to earn the Bucs a sweep of their season series, the Mocs now find themselves in a three-way tie with the Bulldogs and UNC Greensboro atop the SoCon standings.
Senior forward Garrison Keeslar led the way with 15 points – his top performance at UTC – followed by 14 from Frank Champion and Bonham, Huff scored 12 and Jack Kostel added 10. Champion and Kostel supplied a team-high seven rebounds each, while Champion’s six assists were most among the Mocs.
"I think a lot of teams’ game plans are trying to make things really tough on Honor, Trey and Bash (Wieland), all those guys,” said Keeslar, who was perfect on a trio of 3-point attempts. “They do a great job of it, but coach instills a lot of confidence in me and all the guys. They tell us that if we feel good, then let it go. Just having that confidence from the staff and the team, it only helps growing your own confidence when you get it from other people."
After halftime, Chattanooga put together an offensive and defensive clinic in the second half to outscore Furman 50-34 over the final 20 minutes of play. UTC shot an efficient 58.1% (18-of-31) from the floor in the second half, while limiting the Paladins to a lowly 30.3% (10-of-33) field goal mark including a 17.4% (4-of-23) tally from deep during the closing half.
Furman (18-7, 6-6 SoCon) still clung to a 50-49 advantage with 14:33 remaining in the game when Keeslar drained a 3-pointer to give Chattanooga a lead it would not relinquish. The Mocs stretched the margin to 10 following a 15-4 run with 10:29 on the clock, and the Paladins were never able to get any closer than eight the remainder of the contest.
Bonham snapped out of his recent long-distance shooting woes with a pair of late 3-pointers to dash any comeback hopes for the Paladins.
For the second-straight game, Chattanooga benefited by forcing turnovers after outscoring Furman 17-7 in points stemming from turnovers. The Mocs forced 10 turnovers while committing just 5 as they have combined for a 29-point advantage (38-9) in points off turnovers the last two games.
"I thought, you know, we did a good job taking care of the ball,” UTC head coach Dan Earl said. “We had 15 assists to just five turnovers, which is really good. Other than some rebounds late, and some decision making down the stretch, I thought everybody positively impacted the game. And how about Parker Robison, how cool is that? I mean he went in and really impacted the game and made a three late. He just did a really good job and that's such an exciting thing."
Robison, the freshman walk-on from McCallie, put the finishing touch on the Mocs’ near-flawless second half with a 3-pointer in the final minute.
Chattanooga finished the afternoon making 49% of its shots (32-for-66), and was 9-of-19 beyond the arc. The Mocs were 12-of-15 on free throws, including nine straight makes in the second half when wresting the momentum away from Furman. UTC also outrebounded the Paladins by 35-34, and held a dominant 44-24 edge on points scored in the paint.
Furman was led in scoring by PJay Smith’s 22 points. Cooper Bowser added 14, Nick Anderson tallied 11 and Garrett Hien 10 for the Paladins.
Kostel reached 1,000 career points in the first half having played at Alabama-Huntsville previously. Chattanooga is the 16th team in Division I this season with five active players who have scored more than 1,000 career points at the NCAA level (DI, DII, DIII) with Kostel, Bonham, Champion, Huff and Keeslar.
The Mocs will travel to Birmingham on Wednesday in a pivotal showdown at Samford with the league lead on the line. The game is scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m. ET and can be viewed on ESPN+.
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com