Mocs defeat Bucs

The four players in street clothes urged the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga crowd on its feet in the final minutes.

As if the 4,037 in the stands needed more incentive other than the Mocs were leading and East Tennessee State occupied the opposing bench.

The Mocs gave one of their own players a round of applause in the locker room.

Junior Jeff Smith played such a critical role in the Mocs' 85-76 win over ETSU that his teammates rose and celebrated the best effort of his three-year career.

"Jeff probably won us the game," UTC coach John Shulman said. "I told him after the game, 'People in Chattanooga hate ETSU so bad, and you played so good, I don't think you'll have to worry about a job one day,' because they're going to remember that."

Smith scored eight points in his 15 minutes. He converted a three-point play to extend UTC's lead from one to four points with 8:23 to play. But his numbers from the night don't explain his contribution.

The former Tyner standout, who is on track to graduate in December, has rarely played in critical situations during his career. But he and fellow redshirt junior Jeremy Saffore are the longest tenured players.

So with four forwards in street clothes, and those playing either in foul trouble or fouling up the game plan, Smith had to play out of position and defend larger post players.

"He came in and got us stable," Shulman said. "He made a couple nice plays and probably won us the game, to tell you the truth."

Sophomore Keegan Bell also made key contributes that helped UTC win. He led the Mocs with 23 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the 3-point line. Junior Ridge McKeither scored 17 points and freshman Josh Odem had 14 against his hometown college.

"That was real fun because I had my hopes on playing the 2 and the 3, but Coach came to me during the game and said I'd have to play some 4," Smith said. "I said, 'Yes, sir'; he put me in, and it went from there."

ETSU junior forward Tommy Hubbard set career highs with 26 points and 13 rebounds. He entered the game having never made a 3-pointer in his career and he sank four against the Mocs (2-0).

"We knew Chattanooga is a good team," Hubbard said. "We knew it wasn't gong to be an easy game. Tonight they outplayed us."

But not for all of the evening.

ETSU (1-1) closed a close first half on a 12-0 run and owned a 52-47 lead at the break. Their lead lasted nearly nine minutes. Saffore hit two free throws to give UTC a 61-60 lead and Bell hit two more a couple of minutes later for another one-point UTC lead.

Then Smith converted his three-point play and Odem made a sensational reverse layup on an assist from Bell to enthrall a solid November crowd. McKeither punctuated the victory with a one-handed follow-dunk and another get-out-of-my-way flush in the final minute.

"They played a good second half and made some plays," ETSU coach Murray Bartow said. "Bell, McKeither and Odem really hurt us. They made plays when they had to."

So did Smith.

"My role is to come in and be a solid player," Smith said. "I don't have to go in and be Superman."