There's no substitute for experience.
Throughout the course of a basketball season, players gain more of it. However they perform in key moments, just having the opportunities to be in those moments could prove crucial down the stretch.
In the case of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men, all of those experiences have been beneficial this season because almost none of the players on the team had been in a crunch-time situation in a college game until last month.
In their first such opportunity this season, the Mocs let a lead late in regulation play slip away and fell in overtime to visiting Jacksonville State. Careless ball-handling and some missed opportunities reared their ugly heads as the Gamecocks ratcheted up the pressure and the Mocs didn't respond well in the 77-75 defeat.
This past Saturday, they held on in a close game, beating UT-Martin 66-63 at McKenzie Arena to improve to 4-4 in their first season under coach Lamont Paris.
"It was defense and making shots," UTC point guard Rodney Chatman said. "We did it for a certain amount of time, and the other part of time we kind of let up. We couldn't get stops, and they came back.
"Coach tells us we play good in stretches, but we need to do it for the full game. It's a hard thing to do, but we need to mature and be able to do it. We got the lead by getting stops and making baskets."
Given another opportunity Saturday against UT-Martin - another developing team, the Skyhawks fell to 1-7 - the Mocs showed growth, never trailing after a 3-pointer by Chatman made it 52-50 with 5:59 remaining. UTC fought off a pair of ties by scoring on four of its final five possessions, including four pressure-packed free throws made by Makale Foreman in the final 22 seconds to help hold off hot-shooting guard Malcolm Butler and the Skyhawks.
Butler had a game-high 27 points, including his team's final 15. Against Jacksonville State, the problematic player for UTC was the Gamecocks' Malcolm Drumwright, who scored all but two of his 27 points after halftime.
"This is the kind of scenario that in reality you want to draw it up and it would be like this," Paris said after Saturday's victory. "A win like this yields so much more about your team and so much more growth than when you come out and coast to a 22-point win. The problem with playing a game like this (is) you could also lose.
"I was proud of them in finding a way to make a stop when we needed to - grab a rebound, stuff like that, because those plays are critical. Making free throws were big. These guys haven't had to knock down big free throws yet. If you don't make those, everything could change, including the result."
Paris went with a pretty tight rotation Saturday, using only seven players. Six of those - Chatman, Foreman, guard Nat Dixon and forwards Makinde London, Joshua Phillips and James Lewis - were used down the stretch, with Phillips and Lewis playing together while London was being treated for an injury.
Chatman, Dixon and London were the only players from that group to experience meaningful minutes down the stretch of games last season. So for the others to be on the court when the result was still in doubt could be important for the young Mocs, who leave today for Huntington, W.Va., where they'll take on Marshall (5-3) on Tuesday night at 7.
Those six UTC players who contributed Saturday's stretch minutes also accounted for all of the Mocs' points in the game.
"That's coming from handling pressure at the end of the game," said Foreman, who finished with a team-high 18 points. "Our last game was a learning experience for our young team. Getting this one is good for us and the young guys."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.