Led by a 3-under-par 69 from A.J. Lintunen, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s golfers climbed four spots into a tie for seventh with their collective 288 Monday in the East Bay Deli Classic at Turtle Bay on Kiawah Island. The Mocs go into the final round at 586, two shots out of fifth and 13 out of second in the 21-team event. Auburn leads by 17 at 556. Litunen is tied for 19th at 144 in the players’ scores, with UTC’s Oliver Simonsen tied for 29th at 146 and Leon Bader and Connor Nolan (playing as an individual) sharing 39th at 147. Will Porter is at 149, Matt Smith at 152. Nolan carded a 70 and Simonsen a 71 on Monday.
Football
* For the fifth time this season, UTC running back Ailym Ford received honorable mention Monday for the STATS FCS national freshman of the week. He also won the national award once. This time he was recognized for his 179 rushing yards on 21 carries in the Mocs’ 35-20 loss to 13th-ranked Furman. Ford leads all NCAA Division I freshmen with 119.1 rushing yards per game, which is the sixth best average for all FCS players. He is 18 yards short of Mike Smith’s UTC freshman record of 1,090 from 1977.
Basketball
* Tennessee Wesleyan began Appalachian Athletic Conference basketball play Monday with a home doubleheader against Allen University from South Carolina. The Wesleyan men lost 78-67 and the Lady Bulldogs fell 76-64 after losing 64-59 to Ave Maria on Saturday. In the Bulldogs’ loss, Ty Patterson had 23 points and seven rebounds and Bryant Bernard and Lorenzo Gatling scored 13 points each, while Jamesio Rhine collected nine rebounds and three steals. The TWU women got 13 points from Hannah Cherry and seven rebounds from Hannah Troutt against Allen, but the team shot 30.4% from the field and 59.3% on free throws, compared to 46% and 92.3% for the visitors. Chloe Yearwood scored 17 points Saturday, when Jordan Wright added 10.