University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior guard David Jean-Baptiste turned in a career performance Friday night at McKenzie Arena while leading the Mocs to an impressive 90-72 win over South Alabama.
Jean-Baptiste scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half to lead three Mocs in double figures. Matt Ryan had 20 points and six rebounds, and Ramon Vila added 17 and six. Three days after a hard-fought win against Troy, UTC improved to 3-1 by outscoring South Alabama 40-22 in the paint, putting up 22 second-chance points and finishing with a 36-30 advantage in rebounds.
“It’s really great to see this team come together,” Jean-Baptiste said. “This team shows a lot of fight, and we come out and compete in practice every day, so it’s just great to see the team come together tonight.”
Facing an opponent that came within a point of beating No. 22 Auburn on Tuesday night, the Mocs set the tone with their early response to the Jaguars (2-2). After falling behind 8-3, UTC went on a 19-1 run over the next eight minutes to take a 22-9 lead with 8:50 remaining in the half.
“It was a tale of two parts of the half,” Mocs coach Lamont Paris said. “One part was the first minute, and then there were the other 19. We quickly got back into what we were doing, and by the time we got two-thirds of the way through the half I felt so confident in what we were doing. Not because of the score but because of what we were doing and how guys were grasping concepts.”