The shots weren't falling for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's men's basketball team in the second half against The Citadel, so the Mocs did the best thing they could in that situation.
They prevented the Bulldogs from making shots, too.
UTC limited the nation's highest-scoring team to 24 points fewer than its average Wednesday while winning 83-73 in front of 3,143 at McKenzie Arena. The victory was the third straight for the Mocs (13-4), who improved to 4-1 in the Southern Conference and will return to competition Saturday at Mercer.
UTC shot only 40 percent from the field in the second half and missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts, but the Mocs had eight offensive rebounds that turned into 12 second-chance points and scored 24 points in the paint during that span. They also turned 19 turnovers by the Bulldogs (9-10, 2-4) into 19 points and finished the game with 46 points in the paint.
Johnathan Burroughs-Cook was the catalyst on the offensive end, slashing his way to a season-high 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Casey Jones scored 17 points and Tre' McLean had 12.
"We knew they were going to play hard, but we had to focus on our defense, because when our offense isn't working, we have to rely on our defense," Burroughs-Cook said. "We knew they wasn't going to be able to stop us for long."
Justin Tuoyo finished with 13 points and tied his career high with 13 rebounds while adding four blocks and three assists, and Greg Pryor scored nine and had four steals.
The Mocs finished the game shooting 48 percent from the field, but most of their points came in the open court or from transitin. They didn't have a ton of success in the halfcourt, in part due to the Bulldogs' ever-changing defensive schemes, which went from pressing to man to zone throughout the game.
"They threw it all at us. That's how they play," UTC coach Matt McCall said. "You have to give them credit. We never really got into a flow offensively. We got some stops and were able to get out on the break, but when you play against them, you can't play casual, because when you get loose with the ball, that's when they pounce on you."
The Citadel jumped out to a seven-point lead in the game's first seven minutes, taking advantage of some early UTC turnovers for easy baskets. The Mocs finally drew even with defense, holding the Bulldogs without a field goal for 5:13 of the first half and turning a 24-20 deficit to a 33-29 advantage.
UTC led by eight at halftime and, thanks to its defense, didn't lose any ground on the scoreboard in the second half despite starting 3-for-12 from the field.
After a mini-spurt by the Mocs gave them a 10-point lead four minutes into the second half, the Bulldogs cut the lead to six after a Zane Najdawi layup with 9:31 to play.
That's when the UTC guards began to take over the paint. Burroughs-Cook had a three-point play with 9:02 remaining to push the lead to nine, then after a Matt Frierson jumper trimmed UTC's lead to 62-55, the Mocs went on a 13-4 run, highlighted by a pair of Tuoyo dunks, including finishing off a Burroughs-Cook alley-oop with 4:06 to play.
The UTC lead crept up to 17 twice before the final buzzer.
Najdawi scored 15 points to lead four Bulldogs in double figures. Frankie Johnson had 13, while Leandro Allende had 12 and Warren Sledge 10.
"Their starting five is as good as there is in this league," Citadel coach Duggar Baucom said of the Mocs. "It's hard to prep for everybody, but I'm proud of my guys; how they fought and how they competed."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.