For the second time this season, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team had an opportunity down the stretch to earn a win against Mercer.
For the second time this season, Mercer was able to pull away in the end.
Despite falling behind by as many as 16 points in the first half, UTC led twice late in the game before the veteran-laden Bears went on a 10-0 run and won 84-75 Saturday at McKenzie Arena.
The Mocs (9-18, 3-11 Southern Conference) play Thursday at Furman and host Wofford next Saturday.
UTC’s Rodney Chatman scored 24 points – his fifth game this season with at least 20 and third in the past five games – and had six assists for his 10th game this season with at least that many. Makinde London scored 15 off the bench, including a pair of big 3-pointers during the comeback, while Joshua Phillips scored 14 and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
The Mocs played their second consecutive game without junior Nat Dixon, who was listed as unavailable due to coach’s decision prior to Thursday’s win over The Citadel. Dixon, London, Phillips, James Lewis and Duane Moss – all rotation players at the start of the schedule – have missed time this season, with only Chatman, Makale Foreman and David Jean-Baptiste having played all 27 games.
“I told them in the locker room they showed me some things I ultimately want to be defining characteristics of our team,” UTC first-year coach Lamont Paris said. “The way we played was relatively lethargic at times. They had a comfortable lead by most standards for most of the game. So there was no reason for our guys to really think that we could come back and take the lead. There was no real reason to believe that other than they have some things in them.
“Sometimes you don’t even know what they’re made out of, but that spoke volumes to what they have inside of them to do that. It wasn’t because we made a whole bunch of shots; a lot of it was getting stops. We had a relatively small window of time where we got a bunch of stops, then we combined that with scoring a couple of buckets here and there. So that’s how you erase a deficit and take the lead.
“I liked what I saw as far as what we are made out of. It spoke volumes to what you have on the inside in order to be able to do that.”
On defense was where the Mocs struggled early, with the Bears (12-13, 5-7) making eight of their first 10 shots and building a 31-15 lead. The Mocs cut the lead to 39-29 by halftime and were slowly chipping away in the second half – a 3-pointer by Jean-Baptiste capped a 12-2 run and cut the lead to 57-54 with 10:05 remaining, and the Mocs continued to inch closer, finally taking their first lead on a shot by Chatman with 3:48 to play.
“First half we came back and got it under 10,” Phillips said. “I feel like there was confidence going into the second half. When we got it down to three, I feel like we had all the confidence in the world, but we let a couple of plays slip away. I feel like the past games we’ve been in have given us confidence. We just need to finish out close games.”
The Bears’ Desmond Ringer tipped in a Ross Cummings miss and was fouled on the play, and his free throw put Mercer back in front. The Mocs briefly regained the lead on a pair of Phillips free throws with 3:00 to play, but Marcus Cohen drove and found Ringer for a basket inside to put Mercer in front for good.
Cummings and Demetre Rivers followed with 3s to put the game away.
The Bears were 11-for-17 from 3-point range and shot 65 percent from the field. Five players, led by Ringer’s 17, scored in double figures.