UTC men unable to stop ETSU’s streak
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — In some aspects, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team executed better in its second meeting this season with East Tennessee State University than in its first.
But the results the Mocs wanted weren’t there, and the end result was the same.
ETSU used a 14-2 first-half run to assume control and built a 21-point lead on its way to an 81-61 Southern Conference win Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 6,149 at Freedom Hall. It was the Buccaneers’ 15th consecutive victory.
After back-to-back losses — both on the road — the Mocs (8-17, 2-10) return to competition Thursday with a 7 p.m. game against The Citadel (9-14, 4-7) at McKenzie Arena.
Rodney Chatman was the only UTC player who scored in double figures Saturday, with the 6-foot-1 sophomore point guard shooting 9-for-15 from the field for a career-high 26 points. A lot of those came on contested drives to the basket as the Bucs (21-5, 12-0) continued to allow the Mocs to get into the paint while taking away kick-out passes for 3-point shots, one of the things UTC has thrived on this season.
“We gave a little more attention guard-wise to the big guys, but we still didn’t want them to make a lot of 3s,” ETSU coach Steve Forbes said. “We’ve done a really good job with that all year long. We can really defend the 3, and we’re really big inside and can play people one-on-one.”
Said Chatman: “They were trying to deny and didn’t help in gaps. One of my strengths is my ability to get in the lane and finish, and I did a good job of that tonight.”
Forbes called UTC, which is in its first season under coach Lamont Paris, and the Citadel the “two most improved teams in the league.”
“It takes time to get your system in place,” he said. “Guys get used to playing with each other, and it’s a totally different system.
“We knew it was going to be a hard game. The most important thing we did was not foul.”
The Bucs shot 57 percent from the field, with four players scoring in double figures. Desonta Bradford had 22 points — including seven during the first-half run — while grabbing six rebounds. He was one of five ETSU players with three assists, which helped lead to a 9-for-16 performance from 3-point range.
Peter Jurkin had his second career double-double — both against UTC this season — with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Jalan McCloud scored 15 points, while David Burrell added 14.
The game was tied at 18 with 9:04 left in the first half, but ETSU was up 32-20 by the 2:53 mark. The Mocs cut the deficit to eight on a drive by Chatman with 35 seconds left, but Bradford found Devontavius Payne for a 3 right in front of the UTC bench just before halftime to give the Bucs a 35-24 lead at the break.
“At times I thought it came down to us not playing well,” Paris said. “We weren’t playing well; we weren’t making shots. We were were making the right decisions, making the right plays and doing what we should have done for the most part in the first half, but we didn’t finish plays off.
“I thought that could have changed the whole scope of what the first half looked like. I thought we played OK in the first half, but we didn’t play well; we didn’t finish plays.”
The Mocs cut the lead to 11 on two occasions in the second half, the last after a layup by David Jean-Baptiste two minutes into the half, but Jermaine Long then found David Burrell for a 3-pointer and the Bucs slowly pulled away.
UTC’s Makinde London missed his first six shots but finished with nine points — all in a span of 2:36. Joshua Phillips had seven points and a careerhigh 12 rebounds, while David Jean-Baptiste and Nat Dixon had seven points apiece.