John Shulman shook hands with the Western Carolina team and headed to the locker room but stopped.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach peered up at the scoreboard in McKenzie Arena.
"I had to double-check that we won," Shulman said. "I wanted to make sure."
The scoreboard revealed the truth -- UTC 80, WCU 67 -- and Shulman released a puff-cheeked sigh of relief.
The Southern Conference victory ended a four-game losing streak, including three on the road in which UTC (12-10, 4-5) found three different ways to lose games that were close early in the second half.
"It's been a long couple days and a lot of sleepless nights with a lot of stress, and you find out who your friends are," Shulman said. "We weren't very good in the first half, but we battled and then came out in the second half with some belief."
Senior Ty Patterson recorded his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Ridge McKeither had three points in the first half but turned the paint into his personal parking spot in the second half and finished with 15 points before fouling out having played 19 minutes.
"I put myself aside and began thinking about putting the team first," McKeither said. "It feels good when you buy in and have success."
Sophomore Ricky Taylor scored 12 points, point guard Keegan Bell added 10 and 11 Mocs had at least one point.
WCU guard Mike Williams led the Catamounts with 20 points. Brigham Waginger had 12 and Brandon Giles scored 10.
"From our perspective, it was one of our worst performances," said WCU coach Larry Hunter, whose team beat College of Charleston on Monday and won at Louisville earlier this season. "We didn't do anything to help ourselves. I couldn't find a rotation that would give us a spark."
The Catamounts (16-5, 6-3) had enough energy and stifled the downtrodden Mocs in the first half. The Cats went on a 15-0 run to take a 24-14 lead, but UTC held them to two free throws over the next 8:22. The Mocs couldn't pull even, though, and trailed WCU 36-29 at halftime.
"The first half wasn't very pretty. We didn't play well because we were still in that funk," Bell said. "But we had bench guys step up."
The Mocs chipped away at what had become an eight-point deficit before McKeither converted a three-point play to give the Mocs a 48-47 lead -- their first of the second half -- with 12:32 to go.
"Ridge knows that we need him to win," Patterson said. "We couldn't hit shots from the outside, so we threw it inside. Coach ran plays for him; he got fouled and converted at the free-throw line."
The Mocs turned a two-point hole into a 72-63 lead with a 17-6 run. WCU scored 10 points in the final eight minutes of the game.
"For us to win this and to do it at home and get fans back on our side was huge for us," Bell said. "We can't enjoy this too much. It's a great win and it's huge.
"I don't think we can enjoy it tonight."
Shulman enjoyed it at least long enough to exhale.