Gee McGhee of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is sandwiched between Georgia Southern’s Marvin Baynham, left, and Jelani Hewitt Thursday at McKenzie Arena.They took up the entire lower north end zone of McKenzie Arena on Thursday night, 98 sixth-graders from Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, all of them cheering their young lungs out for CPA alum and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior forward Zaccheus Mason against Georgia Southern.
They even wore highlighter yellow T-shirts with a block “Z” on the front that strongly resembled the “Superman” logo. On the shirts’ backs were the words “Go Mocs” with “CPA and UTC” printed underneath.
In the end it didn’t matter against the lowly Eagles. Blowing an early 12-point lead, the Mocs shockingly lost 77-61, trailing by as many as 19 points with 5:34 to play.
But it also brought some perspective to Mason about sports and life and what it can mean to be a role model to 11- and 12-year-old young people.
“That was really cool,” Mason said later — his 21 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots almost assuredly really, really cool to the CPA kids. “I don’t really know how to respond. It’s an honor. I was down about the loss, but after seeing that, it changed my mentality about everything.”