Western Carolina’s Trey Sumler, front right, advances against the Chattanooga Mocs defense during an NCAA college basketball game in Chattanooga.Defensive problems are becoming common.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team lost 90-81 to Western Carolina on Saturday after falling behind by 10 points in the first half.
That’s not the first time this season that the Mocs have fallen into a first-half hole. UTC (8-11, 3-3 SoCon) is now 2-10 in 2012-13 when trailing at halftime, and 33-109 in John Shulman’s tenure as coach.
This year’s two comeback wins came against Appalachian State on Thursday when the Mocs erased a 19-point deficit with 6:36 to play and on Dec. 28 when they trailed 30-27 at halftime against High Point.
“We can’t always fight back, and we have to try and take a lead early in a game,” said junior forward Zaccheus Mason, who led UTC with 21 points Saturday. “I know we came back Thursday, but you can’t do that every night. You have to be able to throw the first punch and start off with consistency.”