Staff photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Dec 11 2010 – Chattanooga’s Chris Early (21) gains control of the ball from his knees after battling with Murray State’s Jeffery McClain.The Mocs almost measured up to Murray State for 40 minutes. In fact, they topped the Racers for 20 minutes.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga dug itself a 19-point deficit and almost climbed out before falling 73-65 to Murray State in McKenzie Arena on Saturday.
“We can’t get punched in the mouth like that,” said UTC guard Omar Wattad who led all players with 23 points. “We have to came out and bring it for two halves. We didn’t bring it in the first half, and to beat a team like Murray, you can’t afford to do that.”
UTC approached Saturday’s contest against the Racers as a measuring stick. MSU has been picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference and knocked off Vanderbilt in the NCAA tournament last year. UTC coach John Shulman said before the game that MSU would expose the Mocs’ weaknesses at both ends of the floor.
The Mocs entered 2-0 in the SoCon after beating Appalachian State and Western Carolina, the two teams picked ahead of UTC in the preseason.
“I don’t know if we thought we were kings because of last weekend or what,” Shulman said. “We were dead and they sliced us and diced us and you can’t get down 19 points to an NCAA tournament team and expect to win.”
UTC trailed by 19 points with about five minutes to go in the first half. It pulled within four points with seven minutes to go, but didn’t get any closer.
In addition to Wattad’s 23 points — including three 3-pointers — Chris Early and DeAntre Jefferson each contributed 10 points for the Mocs (4-6).
MSU forward Ivan Aska led MSU with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Isaiah Canaan added 12 points, Isacc Miles scored 11 points and B.J. Jenkins had 10.
“I feel fortunate to come in here and get a win,” MSU coach Billy Kennedy said. “To set the tone in the first half allowed us to win the game.”
The Racers owned a 16-13 lead with 10:32 to go in the first half. Then four straight turnovers and a block spurred a 13-0 Racers’ spurt as part of an extended 21-5 run to a 37-18 MSU lead with 4:49 to go before halftime.
Part of that run included two MSU free throws following Shulman’s first technical foul of the year, and UTC trailed 45-30 at the break.
“I said before the game that this was a statement game,” Shulman said. “Then at halftime, I said this was a statement half. Are we going to roll over, or are we going to battle.”
Eventually, the Mocs chose the latter — they battled. UTC seemed a half-step quicker and more aware on defense of MSU’s multiple screens, and reacted better to the Racers who tried to get the ball out of point guard Keegan Bell’s hands.
The Mocs went on a 17-4 run, including a nine-possession stretch with at least a free throw, to pull within 54-50. Sophomore Josh Odem scored on back-to-back consecutive reverse layups to excite the crowd and his bench as the Mocs pulled close.
But they couldn’t pull any closer to one of the OVC’s best teams.
“In the first half, we got lulled to sleep watching them run their offense,” Jefferson said. “Plus we lost on the glass then, and overall we missed a lot of free throws.
“We need to play for 40 minutes instead of just 20.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.