Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press
UTC Coach John Shulman is pleased with his teams charge into the lead nearing the end of first half Monday night at McKenzie Arena. The Mocs defeated the College of Charleston.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga staked its claim Monday night for supremacy in Southern Conference men's basketball.
The Mocs are on top after toppling the College of Charleston 91-88 in a showdown of the league's division leaders. Both entered undefeated in league play.
Only the Mocs (10-8, 7-0) remain unblemished after they survived a furious early flurry from the Cougars.
"We at this moment haven't done anything," UTC coach John Shulman said. "I think that we wiped out the doubt that we're any good. We've beat people, beat them close and tight. But people said, 'You haven't played Wofford, Furman and Charleston.'
"We wiped away doubt whether we're any good."
UTC guard Omar Wattad outscored the nation's fifth-leading scorer. Wattad was 7-of-16 from the field in totaling 27 points and Charleston's Andrew Goudelock was 9-of-23 for 26 points with three of his coming as time expired.
"That was an entertaining basketball game and I'm glad it was on TV," Cougars coach Bobby Cremins said. "It says a lot about our conference. Chattanooga is real good. They're going to be a major force this season.
"And with the tournament being here in Chattanooga, they're going to be a force in the tournament."
Wattad has been UTC's driving force for the last four games. He's averaged exactly 25 points and buried 24 3-pointers in those games, including six Monday night.
Ricky Taylor added 16 points, DeAntre Jefferson had 15 points and point guard Keegan Bell scored 12 points to go with eight rebounds, eight assists and only two turnovers.
"It was a lot of fun," Taylor said. "I enjoyed myself. It was a close game and I believe we love close games."
It began like an NBA regular-season game. The Cougars (12-6, 5-1) started the game 7-of-10 from 3-point distance and scored 40 points in less than 13 minutes.
"We were like the Boston Celtics," Cremins said. "We couldn't miss. I hoped it would continue."
The Mocs, not known for their offensive ability, trailed by 12 but matched the Cougars almost shot for shot. UTC led 53-46 in both its best scoring and worst defensive half of the season against Division I competition.
Shulman raised a fist as he walked off the floor, and the 3,823 cheering at the end of the half were as loud as at the end of any other UTC home game this season.
"Coach Cremins and I could have gone out, got us a burger and a hot dog," UTC coach John Shulman said. "That was a great half to watch, but it wasn't fun as a coach because you couldn't get control of it.
"In the second half, it all slowed down a little bit."
The Mocs couldn't pull away. Their largest lead was nine points, and that was barely 30 seconds into the second half. Charleston switched to a zone defense and held UTC to three points in a five-minute stretch and pulled within one.
The Cougars took a 76-75 lead on a Goudelock 3-pointer with 6:36 to play, but Jeremy Saffore converted a three-point play on the next possession and UTC never trailed again. But Wattad hit a 3-pointer and Jefferson found Bell on a back-door play to keep UTC in front of the charging Cougars.
"I wish I had the SoCon logos behind me and we were talking about Selection Sunday," Shulman said, referring to the final day of the league tournament. "We're happy, we're excited and we're pleased. But it's one game and it counts the same as it did Saturday night."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.
Get the latest sports news by following the Times Free Press on Twitter.