Chattanooga's Justin Tuoyo (5) is pressured by Furman's Daniel Fowler (35).GREENVILLE, S.C. - It was a tale of two halves for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team Thursday night.
Furman won the second one, and the game.
The Paladins held the Mocs to 17 points in the second half, and Kris Acox hit a hook shot with seven seconds to play to give Furman the lead in a 60-56 Southern Conference victory in front of 2,223 at Timmons Arena.
The loss was the Mocs' third in five games, and they travel to nearby Wofford to face the Terriers at 7 p.m. Saturday.
UTC's Johnathan Burroughs-Cook had a game-high 16 points. Justin Tuoyo had 13, seven rebounds and four assists and Tre' McLean scored 12 points, but the Mocs were 6-for-17 from the field in the second half and turned the ball over nine times.
"Furman played aggressive," Burroughs-Cook said of the second-half struggles. "We made some careless mistakes, didn't execute.
"That's something we need to work on, get better at."
The Mocs (17-7, 8-4) played Thursday without forward Makinde London. Coach Matt McCall said the 6-foot-11 sophomore "didn't meet team standards."
"I just think a lot of times you've got to have everybody on the same bus," McCall said. "Everybody has to be committed to the team first, and any time that doesn't happen there are consequences to be paid because we have a standard here.
"Makinde is a great kid - he didn't do anything malicious - but when you don't meet that standard of always putting the team first and self second, there's a consequence to be paid."
McCall was noncommittal when asked if London would play Saturday, simply saying, "We'll see."
Devin Sibley led the first-place Paladins (17-8, 10-2) with 13 points. John Davis had 12 and Daniel Fowler 10.
The Mocs jumped ahead 9-2 lead. Furman responded with a 7-0 run to take a lead, and the teams went back and forth in the first half until four 3-pointers in the final 3:12 gave UTC the lead. Burroughs-Cook hit a pair of those in the final 39 seconds, including a fallaway 3 at the halftime buzzer to give the Mocs a 39-33 advantage at the break.
Furman quickly answered to start the second half, with a 9-2 run out of the break. No lead was more than the Paladins' 50-45 edge after a Jordan Lyons 3 with 11:55 to play. The teams were tied at 52, 54 and 56, that last time after a pair of Fowler free throws with 1:48 remaining. From that point on, the teams exchanged turnovers and Sibley blocked a Burroughs-Cook floater, which set up Acox's hook in the lane.
The Mocs' Greg Pryor was fouled driving to the hoop with 0.4 second remaining. After the first free throw rimmed out, he purposely missed the second and Tuoyo was called for an over-the-back foul.
Furman's Jalen Williams hit a pair of free throws for the final margin.
"I thought both teams played really hard," Furman coach Niko Medved said. "It was a tale of two halves. Both teams shot really well in the first half. We just made one more play than they did. I thought our defense was terrific in the second half."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.