The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball used a big second-half run to pull away from Morehead State on Thursday night at McKenzie Arena, with the Mocs defeating the Eagles 76-62 for their first win of the season after an 0-3 start on the road.
Bash Wieland led UTC with a career-high 26 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field, and he grabbed five rebounds and handed out three assists. Honor Huff added 13 points and eight assists for the Mocs, handling a majority of the point guard duties with senior Trey Bonham limited to 18 minutes due to foul trouble.
“Our first win is very important,” said Wieland, who was playing just his second game due to a preseason injury. “I’m just thankful that I’m able to contribute to a win. It’s harder to lead when you’re not playing, it’s just kind of the nature of how it is, so to be out there and be able to try to win as a team, it’s awesome.”
The Mocs (1-3) struggled early on against the upstart Eagles (1-3), who replaced their head coach and half of their roster from last season’s 26-win team that advanced to the NCAA tournament. Morehead State led 37-29 with 3:11 to play in the first half before 3-pointers by Huff and Garrison Keeslar keyed an 8-0 run for UTC to even things up at the break.
The extended 27-3 run put the Mocs up 56-40 in the second half, and their lead crept below 10 points just once the rest of the way.