The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team spent the entire second half attempting to get over the hump against The Citadel.
The Mocs played hard - not always smart, but hard.
But it wasn't enough.
UTC lost 85-76 to the Bulldogs on Monday at McAlister Fieldhouse in Charleston, S.C. The loss was the Mocs' fourth consecutive to end the regular season, and now they'll have to turn their attention to the Southern Conference tournament and a 2:30 p.m. game Saturday against Wofford at the Asheville (N.C.) Civic Center.
UTC played without four-year starting point guard Greg Pryor and three-year starter Tre' McLean. True freshman Rodney Chatman started in place of Pryor and had six points, seven rebounds and seven assists. He was limited to two assists and a rebound in the second half while battling foul trouble.
Makinde London started in place of McLean and also had foul trouble. He finished with three rebounds and two blocks in 13 minutes.
The loss was UTC's fifth in seven games and seventh out of 11 dating back to a Jan. 25 loss at home to Virginia Military Institute.
"You've got to control what you can control," Chatman said on the postgame radio broadcast. "You win some, you lose some, but with the tournament coming up, we can win three in three (days), and that's all that really matters.
"You can gain momentum in practice - learning from lessons, working hard in practice, really being on top of your stuff, listening to Coach and doing everything the coaches say. Do that, and we can make it happen."
Against the Bulldogs' wide-open, fast-paced style of play, the Mocs needed shooters on the floor. That led to key contributions from sophomores Peyton Woods and Dylan Brewster, who was a manager last season, and true freshman Makale Foreman.
As a team, the Mocs were 13-for-38 from 3-point range.
Woods may have found his way out of an early-season shooting slump that hampered his playing time, going 4-for-9 from 3-point range and finishing with 12 points. Foreman added 12 on 4-for-11 shooting from 3, while Brewster was 1-for-4 in his first meaningful minutes of the season.
"It was the first time that some of these guys have played in a while," UTC coach Matt McCall said on the radio broadcast. "Guys had an opportunity to play, and certain guys played well and I'm proud of our effort. I don't think anybody played well defensively, but Peyton shot well and I thought Makale did a pretty good job on Preston Parks.
"Those two guys (Woods and Foreman) go 8-of-20 - they're probably our two best shooters on the team right now - and I thought they played well when they got the opportunity. I'm more disappointed that others didn't try to make the most of their opportunities."
Justin Tuoyo picked up a lot of the scoring slack, tying a season high with 24 points while adding nine rebounds, while Casey Jones had his first double-double since the 2014-15 season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Tuoyo did struggle at the foul line, going 8-for-15 on free throws.
Johnathan Burroughs-Cook hit a layup for the game's first points, but the Bulldogs scored five possessions later on a Preston Parks 3-pointer four minutes into the game and led for the rest of the first half. Burroughs-Cook, Chatman, London and Woods went into halftime with two fouls each.
The Citadel (11-20, 4-14) took a 45-40 lead into the break, but the Mocs stayed close throughout the second half. They held a couple of leads, the last being 58-57 after a Woods 3-pointer with 12:12 to play, but the Bulldogs took control with a 11-5 spurt, then built their lead to double digits as the Mocs were held to two field goals over a seven-minute stretch.
The Bulldogs had four players in double figures, led by Parks' 22 points. Former Hamilton Heights standout Ezekiel Balogun finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Zane Najdawi (13) and Warren Sledge also contributed double-digit scoring nights.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.