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Makinde London stars as UTC men move on in SoCon tournament

UTC junior Makinde London drives to the basket during Friday night's SoCon tournament game against Samford in Asheville, N.C. London had 25 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks to lead the Mocs to an 89-79 win.
UTC junior Makinde London drives to the basket during Friday night's SoCon tournament game against Samford in Asheville, N.C. London had 25 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks to lead the Mocs to an 89-79 win. UTC junior Makinde London drives to the basket during Friday night's SoCon tournament game against Samford in Asheville, N.C. London had 25 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks to lead the Mocs to an 89-79 win.

By Gene Henley 4 min read

The practice of playing in so many close games finally paid off for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team.

With their season on the line and holding on to a two-point lead against Samford, the Mocs went on an 8-0 run over the final 1:48 of an 89-79 win Friday night in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center.

The 10th-seeded Mocs (10-22) will face second-seeded East Tennessee State in the quarterfinals tonight at 6. The Citadel beat Virginia Military Institute 78-70 in the other first-round game and will face top-seeded UNC Greensboro at noon. In the other quarterfinals, Mercer faces Wofford at 2:30 p.m. and Furman plays Western Carolina at 8:30.

Friday’s UTC-Samford game was one in which every Mocs player contributed. Makinde London played possibly his best overall game as a Moc, finishing with 25 points, 14 points, four assists, three steals and two blocks. He was 9-for-18 from the field, 3-for-7 from 3-point range and made all but one of his five free throws.

“Coach challenged me recently to perform,” London said. “That can mean a lot of things, but to me it was doing your job, and I really tried to focus on doing it every time I had plays – make them. It’s not always scoring the ball, it’s boxing out, stay solid, stick to our rules.