Pair of aces
Banks, Hankton are big stars in Mocs’ home win
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga beat The Citadel 70-66 in Southern Conference men’s basketball Saturday afternoon at McKenzie Arena, with the Mocs extending their winning streak to four games and avenging a 92-87 loss to the Bulldogs despite shooting worse this time than they did Jan 9 in Charleston, South Carolina. One reason the Mocs (16-5, 7-5) lost that day was their inability to contain Hayden Brown as the 6-foot7, 225-pound forward exploded for 37 points on 10-for-17 shooting (7-for-10 from 3-point range) and grabbed 13 rebounds. With just seven players on the roster available at the time, UTC coach Lamont Paris simply didn’t have anyone who could guard the big Bulldog.
UTC dropped to 1-3 in league play with the road loss, and afterward Paris said “we need to get some people back.” Missing for the Mocs in that meeting were transfers K.C. Hankton (6-7, 217), with the junior out due to injury, and senior Darius Banks (6-6, 218), who along with Hankton had been granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA on Dec. 16 but hadn’t chosen to play yet.
They were both available Saturday, and the result was Brown being limited to 13 points and the Bulldogs (118, 4-8) going home emptyhanded.
“Huge difference. It was a huge difference,” Paris
said. “This is no disrespect to anyone else on our team, but God gave everybody different gifts, and the gifts that you need in order to guard him, the two guards that guarded him today are the ones that have those gifts more than some other guys that are on our roster.”
They also provided additional scoring options as the Bulldogs chose to limit UTC senior guard David Jean-Baptiste’s touches and held him to six points. However, Malachi Smith with 17 points and 10 rebounds had his ninth double-double of the season, Hankton had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Banks scored 12 with three assists and two blocks. Stefan Kenic was held to seven points but was a team-best plus-14 in just less than 24 minutes of playing time.
The Citadel’s Kaiden Rice had 22 points, Hayden Brown added 13 with 15 rebounds, Derek Webster Jr. had 11 and 10 and Fletcher Abee scored 10 points. Tyler Moffe’s basket pulled the Bulldogs within 68-66 with 12 seconds to play, but Banks and Hankton each made a free throw to help seal the win.
UTC, which had not played at McKenzie since a Jan. 23 loss to UNC Greensboro, continues a three-game homestand with Monday’s 7 p.m. game against East Tennessee State (12-8, 8-4).
MOCS STAR
The contributions of Banks and Hankton can’t be overstated. Brown entered Saturday leading the SoCon in scoring average at 20.6 points per game, and in the season’s first meeting, he had proved too strong for the Mocs’ guards but too quick for the bigs. The Mocs’ missing duo presented the combination of strength, experience and quickness that made things more difficult for Brown.
KEY STATS
The Mocs became the third team this season to hold The Citadel to fewer than 70 points, and it was the first time the Bulldogs had been held under that number on the road. The Bulldogs are 0-3 in those games, having also lost at home against Mercer, 83-63, and UNCG, 85-66.
TURNING POINT
Down 47-42 early in the second half, the Mocs went on a 14-0 run, with four of the five baskets being assisted and the fifth a layup by Smith.
QUOTABLE
“I love them. I love being around them; I love coaching them. And you know, we’ve won and we’ve played well, too, and that’s a part of it, but this is the type of team that if you had some monumental struggles, you could get through it with this unbelievable group of guys. I’m enjoying myself immensely. I’m glad you can tell that, but my No. 1 thing is just to see the way that they respond and interact with each other. That’s bigtime winners-type basketball. That’s a winning culture, when guys will do that.” — Paris
FINAL THOUGHT
Multiple times during a game, one can see a smile creep across Paris’s face (despite the mask). He’s having fun, and the Mocs are playing well and contending in the SoCon. Despite the nice record, UTC is still one of the biggest mysteries in the league because there have been so many versions of the roster of available players. This version is six games old, has a 5-1 record and will be dangerous in March.