UTC’s Eric Robertson brings the ball down the court as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga hosts Mercer in a men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Even after its worst first half of the season, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team had an opportunity to put Western Carolina on the ropes in their Southern Conference game Thursday night.
But the Mocs couldn’t quite deliver a knockout blow.
The Catamounts were able to get back to the center of the ring, regain their composure and hold on to defeat the Mocs 67-61 in front of 1,982 fans at the Ramsey Center. The loss snapped the Mocs’ nine-game win streak, and they have a short turnaround as they travel to face East Tennessee State at 4 p.m. Saturday in Johnson City.
UTC (22-4, 11-2) had 18 first-half turnovers, which led to 23 Western Carolina points, and trailed 35-19 at halftime. The turnover total was four more than the number of shots the Mocs attempted.
“They came ready to play, and we underestimated their talent level,” said UTC senior guard Eric Robertson, who had a team-high 13 points. “We did fight for a little portion of the game when we realized we may lose if we didn’t pick it up. We tried to bring our energy up, but they had a comfortable enough lead that if we scored, they could just come down and match our points.