Huff, Bonham Combine For Historic UTC Win Over Dayton In NIT

It was somehow fitting that the final chapter together for Trey Bonham and Honor Huff inside of McKenzie Arena would be their best.

Since first meeting in the fall of 2021 at VMI when Bonham was a sophomore and Huff arrived as a freshman, they have become a dynamic pairing that has captivated Chattanooga fans the past two seasons and mesmerized opponents.

With Bonham playing his final home game on Saturday in front of a raucous crowd in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament, the duo combined for 51 points in leading Chattanooga (26-9) to an 87-72 win over top-seeded Dayton (23-11) in a game the Mocs led the entire contest.

Huff scored 26 points and Bonham tallied 25, eclipsing their previous combined high-water mark by a single point established last year against UNC Greensboro. In doing so, they enabled the Mocs to advance to Tuesday’s NIT quarterfinals at Bradley (27-8) in Peoria, Ill.

The Mocs move into the Elite 8 of the NIT for the second time in program history. UTC captured home wins over Clemson and an overtime victory at Lamar in 1985 before falling on the road to Louisville, who would win the NCAA national title the following year.

UTC head coach Dan Earl recruited both of his dynamic guards to VMI during his seven seasons leading the Keydets. When Earl took the UTC job three years ago, Huff sat out a year after following his coach to Chattanooga while Bonham spent a year at Florida before being reunited last year.

“It starts with Honor and Trey,” Earl said. “I mean, they were phenomenal. So, it was really cool to see. We have a long history and tradition both at VMI and now here at Chattanooga, as does our staff. And just to see them in the last game together at McKenzie Arena have a wonderful game, that was special. They both played out of their minds.”

Huff scored 16 of his points in the first half that saw UTC lead by as many as 11 points before taking a 42-34 edge into intermission. With Dayton guarding the junior from Brooklyn, N.Y. with defenders several inches taller, Huff was unstoppable. He drained four 3-pointers in the first half, including a pair of back-breakers well beyond the arc with the shot clock expiring.

Meanwhile, Bonham saved his best for the second half. The senior from Mobile, Ala. tallied 20 points in the final frame, delivering a pair of 3-pointers along with several driving buckets while being perfect on six free throws down the stretch.

“I'm going to miss this guy (Bonham), and hopefully we're going to keep this guy (Huff) around for another year,” Earl said when joined by his star guards at the postgame press conference. “They both played outstanding, and we've been with them for a number of years. It’s great to see them playing their best basketball late.”

The unique relationship between Huff and Bonham, who are also roommates, allows for special insights into each other’s abilities. When asked what he instinctively expects from his backcourt sidekick, Bonham was clear with his response.

“Mine is definitely passing him the ball and just turning around,” Bonham said. “I already know it's going in. I throw up the ‘call me’ sign and the ‘3’ sign. It's a good feeling knowing that I got 100% confidence in him to make that shot every time.”

Huff also has a keen awareness of Bonham’s thought process whenever they are on the attack offensively, and the thought of their journey together nearing its end is bittersweet.

“I just think with our connection, I don't think you'll find it anywhere else,” Huff said. “Honestly, it's like I know what he's going to do before he does it. I promise you - I'm behind him and I can visualize what he's about to do.

“Obviously, we've been around each other a long time, but I'm going to miss that. I'll take that away from our experience together, just the connection we had, because I don't know if I'll be able to find a better player on and off the court that suits me as well as he does.”

Dayton head coach Anthony Grant admitted he could not find answers to neutralize Bonham and Huff.

“I haven't seen their club as much, but those guards were as good as we’ve seen,” Grant said. “They were tough to deal with today for us, and then the complimentary guys really stepped up and did a great job for them as well.”

UTC was able to respond to every Flyers run with timely baskets. After a 15-point lead in the second half dwindled down to six with 3:21 remaining, Bonham and Huff took matters into their own hands to stabilize matters by combining for the final 19 Chattanooga points.

Huff hit five of six free throws – two of those resulting from a technical foul on Grant as he had to be restrained after storming onto the court – and canned a final 3-pointer, while Bonham got an easy breakaway layup on a laser pass from Huff and converted four free throws.

Earl was proud of the manner in which his squad withstood Dayton’s comeback efforts while maintaining its poise in the moment.

“It's about weathering a storm, keeping your head up and moving on to the next play, and doing that while still taking coaching because sometimes I'm losing my mind on those guys,” Earl said. “We attacked almost to a person and played really well. We were sharp on offense and did enough defensively to win.”

With all-conference forward Frank Champion missing his fourth straight game due to injury, Chattanooga got solid performances from Collin Mulholland, Latif Diouf and Makai Richards in combining for 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks against the taller Flyers.

“I think the three-headed monster of Collin, who's really played outstanding, Latif, who has given us some really good minutes, and then Makai, who played really good defense and had a bunch of rebounds, they're kind of doing it by committee,” Earl said. “I'm really proud of those guys. It's kind of next man up, and they've done a really good job of embracing the roles and positively impacting the game.”

Mulholland finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting including a 3-pointer, while Diouf scored six points and Richards snagged five rebounds.

Bash Wieland also hit double figures with 10 points to surpass the 1,000-point career mark after coming from Bellarmine for his final season. He joins Bonham, Huff, Champion, Garrison Keeslar and Jack Kostel as the sixth player on this year’s squad to eclipse that mark in their college career.

Bonham finished the day 8-of-13 from the field and 3-of-5 on 3 pointers to go along with a team-high eight rebounds and four assists. Huff was 7-of-12 on his attempts – including 5-of-10 from long range – and chipped in with four assists. The Mocs shot 57% (28-of-49) on the day, converted 10-of-22 3s, and was 21-of-25 from the charity stripe.

The Mocs also handled Dayton’s relentless defensive pressure with only nine turnovers while dishing out 15 assists and winning the rebounding battle by a 29-26 spread.

“I thought the story of the game was their offense was better than our defense,” Grant said. “We didn't have an answer for everything they had. Give them credit. They came out and they played really well. I thought, at the end of the day, it really came down to our inability to get stops. I think it certainly impacted the scoreboard. They scored 87 points in the game, and then we weren't able to play from an offensive standpoint in transition because we're taking the ball out of the net. I think it comes down to they played and coached a better game.”

Chattanooga’s 87 points were the most the Flyers had allowed since the Maui Invitational in November when North Carolina (92) and Iowa State (89) saddled Dayton with a pair of close losses.

Dayton was led in scoring by Nate Santos with 18 points, while Javon Bennett and Enoch Cheeks added 15 and Malachi Smith tallied 11.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” Earl said. “That was a well-played game I thought on both sides. Credit to Dayton. They're a really good basketball team. They made shots and they executed, and they're tough and physical. I thought we did a pretty good job of exceeding their or matching their physicality and also playing well. I thought it was a full team effort.”

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com