UTC 77, Samford 66o
Samford (13-18, 4-14 SoCon)Shabazz 1-3 0-0 2, Rose 4-10 3-4 14, Walker 3-5 1-2 7, Cunningham 8-15 0-0 17, Jones-Gibson 5-10 5-5 15, M. Johnson 2-4 0-0 5, I. Johnson 1-2 2-2 4, Peters 1-3 0-2 2. Totals 25-52 11-15 66.UTC (25-5, 14-3)Ester 4-9 4-5 12, Tuoyo 3-6 4-4 10, McLean 3-7 3-3 10, Pryor 1-7 5-6 7, Robertson 5-11 1-1 15, Oldham 3-7 4-4 11, Burroughs-Cook 2-2 0-2 4, Bran 0-1 0-0 0, Ethridge 3-6 2-2 8.Halftime—UTC, 40-35. 3-point goals—Samford 5-12 (Rose 3-6, Cunningham 1-2, M. Johnson 1-3, Shabazz 0-1); UTC 6-19 (Robertson 4-10, McLean 1-1, Oldham 1-3, Bran 0-1, Pryor 0-4). Rebounds—Samford 30 (Peters 6); UTC 32 (McLean 6). Assists—Samford 12 (Jones-Gibson 5); UTC 16 (Oldham 4). Turnovers—Samford 16 (Cunningham 4, Jones-Gibson 4); UTC 10 (McLean 3). Blocks—Samford 3 (Walker, Cunningham, Jones-Gibson); UTC 7 (Tuoyo 5). Steals—Samford 4 (Cunningham 2); UTC 7 (McLean 4). Total fouls—Samford 22, UTC 18. Fouled out—Walker. A—5,564.
There were highs and there were lows Saturday. There were successes and there were struggles.
But when the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga needed a play to be made, the Mocs made it.
And the outcome is the men’s basketball program’s first Southern Conference regular-season championship in 22 seasons.
The Mocs won 77-66 over Samford to secure a share of their first regular-season title since the 1993-94 season. The conference went for a while to divisions after that, and there were eight UTC divisional championships, but this is the first overall title.
Seniors Alex Bran, Duke Ethridge, Dee Oldham and Eric Robertson were honored before playing their final home game at McKenzie.
“To clinch the conference championship at home, it feels good,” junior Tre’ McLean said. “In the locker room before the game, we were talking about how it was going to be the last time this group of guys will step on this court together, so let’s make the most of it.”
UTC (25-5, 14-3) holds a half-game lead over East Tennessee State but owns the tiebreaker by virtue of a season sweep of the Bucs. The Mocs can win the title outright by defeating Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., on Monday. Their next game after that won’t be until Saturday afternoon at the Asheville (N.C.) Civic Center in the tournament quarterfinals.
UTC shot only 36 percent from the field in the second half against a pesky Bulldogs team but countered that by making 17 of 18 free throws and turning 10 Samford turnovers into 12 points.
Robertson led five Mocs in double figures with 15 points, going 4-for-10 from 3-point range. Chuck Ester added 12, while Oldham scored 11, added five rebounds and had four assists.
Justin Tuoyo scored 10 points and added five blocks, while McLean scored all 10 of his points in the second half and had team highs in rebounds (six) and steals (four).
The Mocs jumped out early on the Bulldogs, leading 33-19 after an Oldham 3-pointer with 4:51 to go in the first half. But Samford (13-18, 4-14) rallied, cutting the margin to 40-35 by the break.
The home team built up another double-digit lead early in the second half but hit an offensive dry spell with only two field goals in a span of 9:11 that allowed Samford to trim the lead to 64-61 with 3:09 to play.
Ester missed a contested jump shot, but McLean grabbed the rebound, was fouled by Wyatt Walker (his fifth) and hit a pair of free throws, and then the 6-foot-5 junior hit a tough jumper in the lane with the shot clock winding down to give the Mocs some breathing room. Oldham and Greg Pryor put the game away by making seven of eight free throws.
After the game, each player and coach Matt McCall took turns cutting down portions of the net.
“I wanted our players to experience that,” McCall said. “Obviously we have a lot of work left to do. They deserve it; they’ve been through a lot.”
Christen Cunningham had a game-high 17 points to lead Samford. Darius Jones-Gibson had 15 and Matt Rose 14.
“I thought we did a great job of clawing back,” Samford coach Scott Padgett said. “I’m proud of our guys.
“You’ve got to give all the credit in the world to UT-Chatt. They’ve had a great, great season, and when they needed a big play, they were able to come up with it. That’s probably the reason why they won the conference championship today.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.