BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — To be as good as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team wants to be this season, the Mocs must be able to win games when the odds are stacked against them.
Statistically, Thursday against Samford could have been that night, and UTC pulled out an 82-76 Southern Conference win.
Despite trailing by double digits in the first half and battling foul trouble in the second, the Mocs (12-7, 5-1) used a 15-3 second-half run to take control and improve to 3-0 on the road in conference play.
“These are the type games you have to win on the road,” UTC coach Will Wade said on the postgame radio broadcast. “Give credit to the guys: It wasn’t perfect, but they battled through and found a way to get it done. You have to be gritty and grimy to dig a couple of these wins out; it shows progress with the program. Maybe this is a win we couldn’t have got last year, but it’s a satisfying win.
“I’m proud of our guys. It wasn’t a thing of beauty; it wasn’t pretty.”
The Mocs shot 48 percent from the field to Samford’s 53 percent. The visitors were only 5-for-20 from 3-point range but won the game by controlling the boards by a 36-28 margin, with 14 offensive rebounds leading to 20 second-chance points.
The Mocs also forced 18 Samford turnovers that led to 17 points.
Justin Tuoyo and Ronrico White led five players in double figures with 14 points. Tuoyo added 11 rebounds — eight offensive — four assists and three blocks, while White added four assists. Martynas Bareika and Casey Jones added 12 points each, while Chuck Ester had 10 points. Tre McLean added eight points, all in the second half.
Tuoyo and Ester fouled out in the second half, and Greg Pryor, Jones, Robertson and McLean all finished with four fouls each.
“There were a lot of fouls, but we tried our hardest to stick to the game plan,” Tuoyo said. “That team (Samford) is better than their record; they’re better than an 0-7 team, but we came out and did everything we could to get the win.”
Darius Jones-Gibson led all scorers with 24 points for the Bulldogs (7-13, 0-7), while Evan Taylor and Brandon Roberts added 13 apiece. Former Tyner standout Michael Bradley had six points and five rebounds.
Jones-Gibson was the biggest cause — and beneficiary — of the Mocs’ foul troubles with his aggressive drives, but he made only six of 14 free throws.
As a team, Samford was 17-for-30 from the free-throw line in the first half and 26-for-42 for the game. UTC finished 17-for-24, with all but one attempt coming in the second half.
The Mocs never led in the first half, trailing by 10 points on three occasions but cutting the lead to 33-30 at the break. The visitors’ first lead didn’t come until an Ester jumper with 12:46 to play, at 47-46. They never relinquished that lead, although the Bulldogs did tie the game at 54 with 10:01 to play.
On the next possession, White hit a 3-pointer, and the Mocs went on the 15-3 spurt that gave them distance. The lead did not dip below four the rest of the way.
The Mocs will play at home next week against Virginia Military Institute and UNC Greensboro.