ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga did everything it could to create enough extra possessions late in its basketball game Saturday night to give itself a chance to win.
But Furman wouldn’t award the Mocs that opportunity.
Guards Devin Sibley and Stephen Croone combined for 29 points as 10th-seeded Furman upset the second-seeded Mocs 69-67 in the men’s quarterfinals of the Southern Conference tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center. The Paladins advance to the semifinals to face the late-night winner between Mercer and Virginia Military Institute.
This was the fifth consecutive season UTC’s men have lost their first game in the tournament.
Sibley, the SoCon freshman of the year, had 16 points to pace Furman (10-21), while Croone added 13. The two were a combined 6-of-16 from the floor and made 15 of their 17 free throws — all in the second half. The Paladins were 25-for-30 at the line in the second half and scored at least one point on their final 14 possessions.
“The last couple of weeks, this team has shown a lot of resistence,” Furman coach Niko Medved said. “Our defense is what has been carrying us, and we ramped up the defense, and on offense we started running our motion attack and got to the foul line.”
Senior Ronrico White finished with 16 points to lead the Mocs (22-10), including 11 in the final 39.2 seconds. Casey Jones added 12 points and three blocked shots, but UTC shot only 33 percent from the field in the second half.
“Give Furman credit. They’ve been playing better,” UTC coach Will Wade said. “They shot the ball well at home against (regular-season champion) Wofford. We couldn’t guard them off the bounce, and they got some critical offensive rebounds. We outshot and out-rebounded them. It’s the first time they’ve won a game when being out-rebounded.
“I don’t know what to say.”
The Mocs shot 56 percent in the first half, building a 31-26 advantage at the break. They got the ball into their big men in the first 20 minutes, as Jones, Duke Ethridge and Justin Tuoyo had 18 of the 31 points. Twenty-two of those points came in the paint.
That advantage was taken away in the final 20 minutes. The Paladins scored the first 10 points of the second half and held the Mocs without a field goal for the first 6:05. They led by as much as five early, but UTC answered with a 15-4 run to go back in front by six points with 9:45 to go.
Furman rallied, tying the game at 49 on two free throws by Sibley with 5:40 remaining. The Paladins made a living at the line the rest of the way, making 14 of their final 18 attempts.
White, Martynas Bareika and Lance Stokes are the three seniors on the Mocs roster. They led UTC to their first 20-win season since 2004-05, and for the second consecutive season, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
“Obviously this is a devasting night for us,” Wade said. “We were prepared and had a good week of practice. I’m devastated for our guys; I don’t know how else to put it. I love our team, and we’re going to use this (loss) with the guys that’ll come back and figure this thing out.
“We haven’t won here. We had a pretty good year, but we haven’t won here. The regular season is great, it’s awesome, but you’ve got to finish in the tournament. We’ll figure it out and get back to work on that.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.