UTC men win at The Citadel, 68-65

Playing without leading scorer and rebounder Kevin Easley, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga held The Citadel scoreless for the final 3:54 to pull out a 68-65 Southern Conference men’s basketball win Thursday night in Charleston, South Carolina.

David Jean-Baptiste led the Mocs (12-16, 7-8) with 16 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 34 seconds to play. Donovann Toatley added 15 points, Ramon Vila 10 points and 12 rebounds and Justin Brown 10 points in his first game in a month. Easley, a star freshman, missed Thursday’s game after injuring an ankle late in Saturday’s loss at Samford.

Coupled with Samford’s loss to Mercer on Thursday, UTC moved back into fifth place in the SoCon standings, holding a one-game lead over Samford and a two-game lead over Mercer. The Mocs play Mercer at 4 p.m. Saturday in Macon, Georgia.

The Mocs led the Citadel 37-27 at halftime, but Lew Stallworth (gamehigh 25 points) and Matt Frierson (17) stirred the rally for the Bulldogs (1115, 3-12). Frierson hit a 3-pointer and Stallworth followed with a drive to put the Bulldogs up 62-59 with 4:33 to play.

Toatley tied it with a 3-pointer, but Frierson was fouled on a longrange attempt and made all three free throws to put The Citadel back on top with 3:53 left. The Mocs’ Maurice Commander hit a jumper to close the gap to one 30 seconds later.

Vila gave the Mocs possession when he blocked an ensuing Stallworth layup attempt, leading to Jean-Baptiste’s big 3-pointer and a 67-65 lead. Jonathan Scott then stripped Stallworth, and Jean-Baptiste made one of two free throws with 11 seconds left.

The Bulldogs worked the ball to Frierson at the top of the key, but his attempt at a tying 3-pointer fell off the rim. Hayden Brown grabbed the offensive rebound and threw up an off-balance try for three point, with the ball bouncing off at the buzzer.