Toatley’s late score lifts Mocs
Donovann Toatley got the matchup he wanted and made the move he wanted.
It was a hard drive into the lane with his right-handed dribble, followed by a quick spin that shook the defender and a wideopen left-handed layup for the 5-foot-9 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman guard. And for the win. Toatley’s basket with 2.5 seconds to go capped his 14-point second half — all his scoring — and was the difference in the Mocs’ 62-60 defeat of NCAA Division II visitor Lee University in an exhibition at McKenzie Arena on Thursday. The Mocs start the regular season Tuesday at Charlotte and will be home to face Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 10.
“Coach (Lamont) Paris brought me to the side and asked if I wanted to run spread or flat,” Toatley said. “I told him I wanted the biggest guy, the slowest guy, I wanted him on me, but they took out the big man and had all guards, so Jon (Scott) had the slowest guy on him so I called flat. I told him to come set the screen, and the rest is history.
“I got past him and made the final bucket, and we got the stop and got the ‘dub.’”
The Mocs played with only eight players Thursday against the Flames. Junior Rod Johnson and freshmen Keigan Kerby and Duane Moss missed due to injuries, and sophomore forward Ramon Vila won’t be available until the end of the first semester.
Toatley was followed by freshman Kevin Easley, who had 10 points and a team-high six rebounds. Scott added nine points and made some key defensive plays down the stretch, none bigger than a charge taken on former Central standout Ryan Montgomery with 24 seconds remaining, leading to Toatley’s basket.
“Jon got the biggest charge of the game, which shifted the momentum of the game,” Toatley said. “The dub really goes to him.”
Montgomery led the Flames with 14 points, adding 11 rebounds. Michael McGuirk had 11 points, while seven of Colton Blevins’ 10 came in a one-minute, 14-second span late.
Lee wound up leading the game for more than 24 minutes to the Mocs’ 11:41. The Flames won the rebounding battle 38-25 and shot 44 percent to the Mocs’ 41. They shot 62 percent in the first half, leading by as many as eight before taking a 39-34 lead into the locker room.
The second half was different, with the Mocs making some changes that limited Lee to making only eight of its 28 shots in
the final half, while turning the ball over nine times, leading to nine UTC points.
“I thought tonight provided everything you’d want out of a game like this,” Paris said. “You had drama at the end; you had to make stops and make a play on the offensive end. I tried going into the game to not worry about what the overall outcome was — which is hard to do — but moreso how we handled situations.
“Defensively in the first half I thought we were terrible. We made some changes in the second half that were more about effort and attention to detail.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.