JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - In a tight game in crunch time, Tennessee gave the basketball to Detrick Mostella.
It was the right move.
The mercurial guard scored a career-high 25 points and broke a 65-all tie in the final two minutes as the Volunteers emerged from a close game with a win in a 72-68 triumph against East Tennessee State at a rowdy Freedom Hall on Thursday night.
Mostella hit two free throws with 1:11 left to give Tennessee (7-5) the lead and grabbed a tough rebound of T.J. Cromer's missed runner in traffic before knocking down a jumper from the elbow with 29 seconds left to give the Vols the win in a game featuring nine ties and 12 lead changes, many of them in the second half.
Mostella hit 8-of-15 shots and all six of his free throws, and freshman Grant Williams had a couple of key blocked shots late to help Tennessee avoid a second loss this season to an in-state opponent out of the Southern Conference.
Robert Hubbs III added 11 for the Vols, while Cromer and Desonta Bradford each scored 14 points for the Bucs (9-3), who won at Mississippi State last week.
The Bucs re-energized their home crowd to start the second half with a 13-4 run to wipe out a nine-point halftime deficit and tie the game at 36 on Hanner Mosquera-Perea's three-point play with 16:27 left.
Tennessee showed nice poise to recover from the ETSU charge and, after the teams traded baskets for a stretch, and push its lead back to 51-44 on Mostella's jumper at the 12:04 mark.
ETSU regained the lead 55-54 on David Burrell's three-point play with 9:31 left, only for Shembari Phillips to answer for the Vols with a turn-and-heave 3 at the shot-clock buzzer moments later.
The teams were tied at 62 entering the final four minutes.
The intensity was palpable throughout a first half that often was hard to watch and featured one stretch where neither scored for almost four minutes of action.
Both teams challenged every pass, drive and shot, and execution typically was nonexistent as Tennessee played carelessly and ETSU missed a handful of easy shots, including multiple dunks or layups.
The game was tied at 14 when ETSU's Isaac Banks made a hook shot at the 4:55 mark, and the scoring picked up from there to close the half.
Tennessee scored 19 points in the first 16 minutes of the game before Mostella caught fire.
The mercurial guard poured in 13 straight, including three straight 3-pointers, to give the Vols a 32-23 halftime lead.
Mostella's final trey was a deep bomb from NBA range with a defender in his face after he bobbled the pass to the wing, and it hit nothing but the bottom of the net.
The Vols made just five of their first 20 shots before making their final seven shots of the first half to overcome a scoring drought of more than five minutes.
ETSU made just 3-of-16 from the field to start and finished the first half with four 3s to make up for a 4-of-22 shooting mark inside the arc, but the Bucs didn't score a single point off 10 Tennessee turnovers.
Tennessee's next game is its SEC opener at Texas A&M on Dec. 29.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.