UTC 63, Samford 56
UTC (18-3, 7-1 SoCon)Ester 3-8 1-2 7, Ethridge 4-6 3-3 11, Pryor 0-5 6-8 6, Robertson 1-7 0-0 3, McLean 4-9 4-4 12, Oldham 2-8 1-3 7, Burroughs-Cook 1-6 0-0 2, Tuoyo 6-10 3-5 15, Woods 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 18-25 63.Samford (11-11, 2-7)Shabazz 0-4 1-2 1, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Walker 4-10 3-6 11, Cunningham 7-11 0-2 15, Jones-Gibson 5-11 4-8 14, Johnson 1-3 1-2 4, Rose 3-7 0-0 7, Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Peters 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-49 9-20 56.Halftime—UTC, 35-28. 3-point goals—UTC 3-18 (Oldham 2-5, Robertson 1-6, Burroughs-Cook 0-2, Pryor 0-5); Samford 3-14 (Cunningham 1-1, Johnson 1-3, Rose 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Jones-Gibson 0-1, Shabazz 0-3). Rebounds—UTC 43 (McLean 10); Samford 32 (Walker 14). Assists—UTC 8 (Pryor 2, Robertson 2, McLean 2); Samford 11 (Johnson 3, Cunningham 3). Turnovers—UTC 9 (Ester 3); Samford 11 (Jones-Gibson 4). Blocks—UTC 2 (Ester, McLean); Samford 4 (Walker 2). Steals—UTC 7 (McLean 4); Samford 4 (Cunningham 2). Total fouls—UTC 18, Samford 22. Fouled out—Johnson. A—2,549.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Pound and pound.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team had one of its worst shooting performances of the season Saturday at Samford, but a season-high 17 offensive rebounds led to extra possessions and the Mocs were able to survive with a 63-56 Southern Conference victory in front of 2,549 at the Pete Hanna Center.
The Mocs (18-3, 7-1), who hold a two-game lead in the loss column in conference play, will return home for three games this week, starting Monday with The Citadel. UTC won the first game between the two 84-78 on Jan. 2.
Center Justin Tuoyo didn’t start due to a disciplinary issue but still led the Mocs in scoring with 15 points and added seven rebounds. Tre’ McLean scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and four steals, while Duke Ethridge had 11 points. The Mocs shot 35.6 percent from the floor – their lowest rate in a win and second-lowest of the season.
“Really good teams find ways when the ball is not going in the basket to win games, and I felt we did that tonight,” UTC coach Matt McCall said. “We got open looks, but there was a lid on it and we could not buy a basket. We still found a way to win, which makes me proud because we didn’t let what was going on on offense affect us. We won the game with defense and rebounding.”
The three 3-pointers made were UTC’s fewest of the season, but the Mocs made 18 of their 25 free throws and were 9-of-12 in the final 2:27. Point guard Greg Pryor didn’t make a shot from the field but was 6-of-8 from the foul line down the stretch.
After being outrebounded in their last two games, the Mocs outboarded Samford 43-32.
“Coach said we need to get back to what we do,” McLean said. “We had a week off, a week to getting back to playing Chattanooga basketball, and today’s emphasis was the glass.”
The Mocs led wire-to-wire, taking a 35-28 lead into the break on the strength of 11 second-chance points and 14 points off nine Samford turnovers. The lead grew to 11 on a dunk by Ethridge with 10:06 to play, but the Bulldogs rallied, trimming the deficit to three on a basket in the paint by Wyatt Walker with 3:02 remaining.
From that point forward, the Mocs made free throws, while Samford missed four of its six attempts.
“Our shots weren’t falling, but we kept getting stops,” Tuoyo said. “We work on free throws every day. We know that’s going to close the game out for us, and the players did that tonight.”
Samford (11-11, 2-7) finished 9-for-20 from the free-throw line. Christen Cunningham led the Bulldogs with 15 points, while Darius Jones-Gibson scored 14. Walker had 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.