In a little more than a week, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team put together a four-game winning streak, finished off a pair of regular-season series sweeps and stepped closer to the program’s first Southern Conference championship since 2016.
Standout performances by UTC senior Darius Banks and sophomore Malachi Smith led a dominant second-half effort Saturday afternoon at Furman, with the Mocs erasing a seven-point halftime deficit for a 64-58 win in Greenville, South Carolina.
The victory inched the Mocs (22-5, 12-2) closer to the regular-season title and the top seed for the SoCon tournament on March 4-6 in Asheville, North Carolina. UTC has a three-game lead over the second-place Paladins (17-10, 9-5) with two weeks to play, and the Mocs have three of their final four games at home, starting with Thursday’s 7 p.m. contest against UNC Greensboro at McKenzie Arena. The Spartans (15-10, 7-6) host Mercer on Sunday before visiting UTC.
For the Mocs, victories in two of their final four games will clinch the top seed while also securing a National Invitation Tournament bid in the event UTC doesn’t make the NCAA tournament. The SoCon tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 68-team NCAA bracket.
“Big-time performance. It was not for a lack of effort on anyone’s part,” UTC coach Lamont Paris said on the postgame radio show. “I can’t say enough about our guys; they just grinded and grinded. Things aren’t happening, but keep your head where it needs to be, keep playing enough defense where the number (UTC’s halftime deficit) looks fine. We did enough to keep it at seven, and some of our usual suspects were not making shots.
“We got more aggressive, started attacking a little bit more, and then were able to make some shots with Darius Banks off the dribble. I just can’t say enough about this one.”
UTC outscored the Paladins 44-31 in the second half to sweep the season series, with the Mocs having also won 71-69 on Jan. 15 in Chattanooga. Saturday’s win came three days after a vengeance victory against Western Carolina, and the Mocs also beat Mercer twice in three days to start this streak.
At Furman, Banks had a season-high 26 points while adding 11 rebounds for the Mocs. Smith, his roommate, added 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. UTC played without forward Silvio De Sousa, who has missed the past four games with an injury, and KC Hankton, who sat out after tweaking an elbow injury.
Jalen Slawson led the Paladins with 24 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks, with Mike Bothwell and Marcus Foster each scoring 11 points.
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.