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Southern Superstar
A contest held by Stone Ward to find the best blues lyricist across the south. Finals held at Sticky Fingerz, Thursday March 26.
UTC 91, Tennessee Wesleyan 63
Tennessee Wesleyan (6-2)Tiller 2-4 1-2 6, Jenkins 0-1 0-0 0, Robinson 7-12 3-3 17, White 1-4 1-2 3, Suttles 2-10 3-4 9, Chairs 0-1 0-0 0, Hall 1-4 0-0 3, McClain 0-0 0-0 0, Hayes 1-1 0-0 3, Baker 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 1-8 0-0 3, Richey 3-4 0-0 6, Simmons 2-4 0-0 5, Morgan 2-2 2-2 6, Davison 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 23-60 10-13 63.UTC (6-2)Ester 3-4 4-4 10, McLean 4-8 2-2 12, Jones 4-7 4-6 12, Burroughs-Cook 1-4 0-0 2, Robertson 2-4 2-4 8, Pryor 1-6 6-6 8, Oldham 4-8 0-0 9, Matthews 0-1 0-0 0, Woods 2-3 0-0 6, Bates 0-0 0-0 0, Bran 1-3 0-0 3, Ethridge 7-9 5-6 19, White 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-58 23-28 91.Halftime: UTC, 44-23. 3-point goals—TWC 7-27 (Suttles 2-5, Hayes 1-1, Simmons 1-1, Tiller 1-3, Hall 1-4, Brown 1-6, Chairs 0-1, Baker 0-1, Richey 0-1, Robinson 0-2, White 0-2); UTC 8-24 (Woods 2-3, Robertson 2-4, McLean 2-5, Bran 1-3, Oldham 1-4, Burroughs-Cook 0-1, Matthews 0-1, Ethridge 0-1, Pryor 0-2). Rebounds—TWC 31 (Suttles 11); UTC 38 (Jones 8). Assists—TWC 18 (White 4, Brown 4); UTC 23 (McLean 6). Turnovers—TWC 18 (White 5); UTC 9 (Burroughs-Cook 3). Blocks—TWC 2 (Robinson, Hall); UTC 3 (Ester 2). Steals—TWC 5 (5 with 1); UTC 12 (Ester 3, McLean 3). Total fouls—TWC 19, UTC 11. Fouled out—none. A—2,152.
The ball moved. The ball went in the basket.
And the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team got an easy win.
The Mocs had four players in double figures, led by a career-high night from Duke Ethridge, and defeated NAIA member Tennessee Wesleyan 91-63 in front of 2,152 fans at McKenzie Arena on Tuesday.
UTC (6-2), which played its previous five games on the road, will jump back on the bus for a game Saturday night at Dayton. After that, the Mocs have three consecutive games at home.
They played Tuesday’s game without 6-foot-10 center Justin Tuoyo, who had to miss his second straight after suffering a concussion prior to the game at Louisiana-Monroe. His greatest impact usually is on the defensive end, as he averages 2.8 blocked shots per game. His absence was felt in the Mocs’ loss to ULM, but they were solid on that end Tuesday, limiting the Bulldogs (6-2) to 38 percent shooting and to 25 points below their average of 87.9 per game.
“It is tough because it’s different,” junior guard Tre’ McLean said of Tuoyo’s absence. “We just have to protect the paint a little harder because he bails us out when we get beat, but Duke and Chuck (Ester) are pretty good shot-blockers.”
Ethridge led the Mocs with 19 points, adding five rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes. He was 7-for-9 from the floor and had four dunks – three of the alley-oop variety.
“There are not a lot of athletes out there like Duke,” UTC coach Matt McCall said. “I really felt like he played the game the right way tonight and gave us an unbelievable lift. There aren’t too many athletes or people as athletic as he is in the country, much less the Southern Conference.
“He gives our team a different dimension.”
McLean had 12 points, a team-high six assists and seven rebounds, while Casey Jones matched McLean’s scoring total while adding four assists and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Mocs shot 52 percent from the floor and had 23 assists to only nine turnovers. They turned 18 TWC turnovers into 22 points and had 47 points come from their bench.
A 29-6 first-half run helped the Mocs take control early. They built a 27-point lead before settling on a 44-23 margin at the break, and the Bulldogs never got closer than 16 the rest of the game – on a layup by Leland Robinson which made it 46-30 with 17:13 to play.
The reigning Appalachian Athletic Conference player of the week also had made a layup to cut the lead below 20 (66-48) with 9:13 remaining, but UTC responded with a 14-3 run for good measure, stretching its lead as high as 31 before the final buzzer.
“I think we addressed some things tonight,” Jones said. “We still have a lot of work to go, but from the standpoint of the topics we’ve been discussing in practice, we did get some things that we felt very good about out of this game.”
Robinson led TWC with 17 points, and Tyner graduate Trey Suttles had 11 rebounds with nine points.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.