The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team was hoping for a solid finish to its road trip Monday against Louisiana-Monroe.
The Mocs had moments, but not enough in the end. They fell to 5-2 for the season with a 64-54 loss to the Warhawks.
UTC finished its five-game, 10-day road stretch with a 3-2 record.
"I'm more disappointed in the fact that we lacked toughness, lacked grit," UTC coach Matt McCall said on the postgame radio broadcast. "That's all we talked about going into the game. There wasn't a great crowd so we had to create our own energy, but we lacked serious toughness and I was disappointed in that regard."
UTC shot 35 percent from the floor from the game, making 9 of 29 shots from 3-point range.
The Mocs played without 6-foot-10 center Justin Tuoyo, who was injured and missed the game. Casey Jones had 14 points and nine rebounds, while Chuck Ester - who started in place of Tuoyo - and Tre' McLean added nine points each. Greg Pryor had a team-high four assists while battling first-half foul trouble.
The Mocs got off to a slow start as ULM went on a 15-0 run to assume control of the game early. UTC trailed by as many as 12 points but trimmed the margin to 28-20 going into halftime.
They continued to battle back into the game, taking a 34-33 lead on a 3-pointer by McLean with 11:57 remaining. The 6-foot-5 junior guard then hit two free throws to reassume a one-point advantage, but the Warhawks had an 11-2 run midway through the final half and the Mocs didn't get any closer than five the rest of the way.
"We're not good enough to just turn it on and turn it off," McCall said. "No team is that good. We've got to bring it every single night."
Majok Deng - cousin of Miami Heat forward Luol Deng - had 22 points for Louisiana-Monroe, while Nick Coppola added 14 and five assists.
After finals, the Mocs will be home in McKenzie Arena for a Dec. 8 game against Tennessee Wesleyan.
"We have to take care of our academics, get some practices, and I look forward to playing a home game in McKenzie Arena again," McCall said.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.