The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team had a dream game on defense Saturday afternoon against Southern Conference rival Furman, holding the Paladins to 20 points below their season scoring average and forcing them into a 40% shooting day.
That, however, did not equate to a victory as the Mocs managed to shoot only 30.4% (17-of-56) in a 58-53 loss in Greenville, South Carolina.
UTC (16-11, 7-7) remains tied with Mercer for sixth place in the SoCon and is one game back of Western Carolina and Wofford in the league standings. Furman (22-5, 12-2) is tied with East Tennessee State for first, with UNC Greensboro a game behind with two weeks to go in the regular season.
UTC owns a regular-season sweep of Wofford but has lost twice to Western Carolina.
The Mocs took a 13-4 lead seven minutes into Saturday’s game, but they scored only two more baskets the rest of the first half, which ended with Furman up 24-18.