The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team got its first Southern Conference victory of the season Saturday afternoon, and the Mocs were well on their way to that winning result by the end of the first half.
Bash Wieland scored a team-high 21 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field for UTC, which led for more than 37 of the game’s minutes while beating The Citadel 81-68 in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Mocs improved to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in the league — bouncing back three days after a frustrating 99-94 overtime loss to Mercer in Macon, Georgia — and will be home for their next SoCon matchup. UNC Greensboro (9-6, 2-0) visits McKenzie Arena at 5 p.m. Thursday for a game that will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
It’s also the start of a three-game homestand for UTC, with contests following against Virginia Military Institute at 2 p.m. next Saturday and against Wofford at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Wieland, who also had five rebounds against The Citadel, benefited offensively from some wide-open looks on cuts as the Bulldogs (5-8, 0-2) tried to take away the 3-pointer from UTC, which has averaged close to 30 long-range attempts per game this season but had just 23 Saturday. The Mocs still made nine, only slightly below their entering average of 9.6 per game.
Trey Bonham finished with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists for UTC, while Sean Cusano — who is from Hilton Head, some two hours down the South Carolina coast from Charleston — had 11 points and four rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Frank Champion and Garrison Keeslar chipped in eight points apiece, with Keeslar adding six rebounds and matching Champion with three assists.
The Mocs trailed just once, 4-2 in the early going, before back-to-back baskets from Wieland and Keeslar helped the visitors take control. UTC used 11 players in the first half, and 10 of them scored to help stake the Mocs to a 42-30 lead going into the break.
“We just have so many guys that are capable of coming in and contributing,” Wieland said. “That’s great for a team to have a very deep bench; that’s something that as we get into the SoCon tournament will be really helpful for us.”
The Bulldogs got 21 points from Brody Fox, who was 7-for-16 from the field and 7-for-11 on free throws, plus 12 points and nine rebounds from Sola Adebisi, whose 3-pointer with a little more than half a minute remaining before intermission kept UTC from going into the locker room ahead by 15 points.
The Mocs took care of the ball much better than they did on Wednesday, when they had 17 turnovers against Mercer, with only seven giveaways compared to 19 assists. UTC shot 52% from the field and was 12-for-15 at the free-throw line in the second half to secure the win over the Bulldogs.
“We were able to share the ball pretty well offensively and get the ball to the guys that could score,” UTC coach Dan Earl said. “They were switching sometimes and not others. I thought we did a pretty good job of spraying it around and got some open looks, and then got the ball down low a couple of times.
“We were able to get into our offense quickly and stay attacking and just play basketball.”
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.