Mocs win at VMI to stay in SoCon hunt

UTC's Tre' McLean dribbles during the Mocs' 80-64 loss to VMI last month at McKenzie Arena. UTC won at VMI on Wednesday night.
UTC's Tre' McLean dribbles during the Mocs' 80-64 loss to VMI last month at McKenzie Arena. UTC won at VMI on Wednesday night.

LEXINGTON, Va. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team was never able to pull away from Virginia Military Institute on Wednesday evening.

But the Mocs never let the Keydets get too close down the stretch.

UTC made its last eight free throws in the final 2:26, holding the home team at bay and earning a 74-68 win at Cameron Hall.

With the victory, UTC (19-7, 10-4 Southern Conference) stays a game behind East Tennessee State University in the loss column and two games behind league-leading Furman (20-8, 13-2). The Mocs host rival ETSU (21-6, 11-3) at 5 p.m. Saturday at McKenzie Arena and will be trying to avenge last month's 76-71 loss in Johnson City.

Tre' McLean led the Mocs against VMI with 19 points on an efficient 6-for-9 shooting night, including a 5-for-7 performance from 3-point range. Greg Pryor had 16 points, three assists and was 3-for-4 from long range, while Casey Jones added 12 points. The Mocs shot 14-for-18 from the free-throw line in the second half.

McLean and Pryor combined to hit 4-for-6 from 3-point range in the second half, with each of their makes seemingly coming at a crucial time.

Armani Branch led VMI (6-19, 3-11) with a career-high 23 points while adding nine rebounds. Julian Eleby finished with 14 points, and Trey Chapman had 10 points and nine rebounds. QJ Peterson, who scored 40 points in the teams' first meeting - an 80-64 VMI win Jan. 25 in Chattanooga - was held to 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting.

The Mocs played with multiple defenders on Peterson throughout. Johnathan Burroughs-Cook drew the assignment first, while Rodney Chatman and Nat Dixon also spent time guarding him. In addition, the Mocs trapped the 6-foot guard coming around screens with the 6-10 Tuoyo and the 6-5 Jones, which forced the Keydets to use players like Branch and Eleby to do even more on the offensive end.

"QJ is a great player, an elite scorer," McLean said. "There aren't many nights he'll come out and have 12 in a game.

"Credit to those guys - Burroughs, Rodney and Nat - for their effort tonight."

The Mocs led for all but 1:11 of the game, taking a 3-2 lead on a Jones dunk and foul in the second minute. They flirted numerous times with heading toward a blowout, but nine missed layups in the first half kept VMI within single digits of the lead.

"That's 18 points we left out on the floor," UTC coach Matt McCall said. "I was really pleased with our first-half defense; I thought we did a terrific job."

The Keydets cut the lead to four with 1:25 to play in the first half after a Peterson free throw, but UTC scored the final five points before the break, capped by a McLean 3 at the buzzer that made it 34-25.

Similar to the first meeting, VMI threw the first blow of the second half, cutting the Mocs' lead to 49-47 with 11:07 to play, but this time the Mocs responded with a 14-6 run to stretch their lead to 10. That was followed by three straight bad possessions by the Mocs, which gave VMI a chance to close the lead to six, then four with 39 seconds to play.

Burroughs-Cook hit a pair of free throws, though, and after a Keith Smith turnover, Pryor made four straight to hold off the Keydets.

"In the second half, we screwed up some switches and didn't offer a lot of resistance," McCall said. "We found a way to win the game. We had chances to blow it open even more, but we found a way to win on the road.

"This time of year, that's the most important thing. Now we know we have a huge challenge on Saturday."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.

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