There are aspects of having a college basketball team full of first- and second-year players that only experience can correct.
Handling adversity is one, and as University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Lamont Paris pointed out after Saturday’s 77-64 loss to East Tennessee State University, it hasn’t been a strong point of this season’s Mocs.
UTC more than held its own against Southern Conference power ETSU at McKenzie Arena – until adversity struck.
The Mocs (10-14, 5-6) led their rivals by four points five minutes into the second half, but the Buccaneers (19-5, 9-2) went on a 14-0 run, keyed by an increase in defensive pressure, to take a lead they would not give up.
“Once they started having a run we jumped on the panic button, and that’s something we’ve done a lot lately,” Paris said. “That has to change. We’re too far into the season for that to happen repeatedly.
“We’ve seen teams go on crazy runs against us. Today wasn’t necessarily crazy, but it lasted longer than it should have.”
Burly big man Lucas N’Guessan had 14 to lead four ETSU players who scored in double figures and was part of a dominating 42-16 edge in points in the paint.
UTC freshmen Kevin Easley and Donovann Toatley led their team with 12 points each.
The Mocs were the aggressors in the first half, most notably during the final eight minutes as UTC went from down 28-18 to up 33-30 at the break. Sophomore forward Ramon Vila hit a 3-pointer to start the late run, which also included back-to-back treys from Toatley and Thomas Smallwood.
The team that gave up 105 points in an ugly home loss to Western Carolina on Thursday had taken the game to the more physically imposing Bucs.
“I was expecting a physical game and we got it, and at halftime I was very unhappy with how hard we were playing,” ETSU coach Steve Forbes said. “They were manhandling us coming off cuts and screens. Our big guys were not scoring at the basket, so we needed to correct that.”
Forbes made a key adjustment at halftime by moving athletic 6-foot-4 guard Bo Hodges inside and sticking him on Easley, who had made several strong moves in the paint. With Hodges facilitating offensively along side N’Guessan – and sharp-shooting guard Patrick Good finding his range – the Bucs shot better than 60 percent over the final 15 minutes of the game.
UTC led 42-38 when A.J. Caldwell nailed a 3-pointer, but in less than a minute the lead had gone away for good after Good hit a 3, giving ETSU a five-point lead and leading Paris to call a timeout.
It didn’t work. N’Guessan got a dunk off an offensive rebound and Tray Boyd hit a 3-pointer for a 10-point lead. UTC possessions, which earlier involved good ball movement, became forced.
“I feel like in the first half we came out and played extremely hard and we sent a message early on,” said Toatley, who forced seven ETSU fouls. “In the second half we went off the gas a little bit. When other teams make runs, we have to learn how to have poise. Basketball is a game of runs, and you can’t hit the panic button.”
ETSU was just 7-of-18 on 3-pointers but hit three of them in the final seven minutes after the Mocs had cut the Bucs’ lead to four on Jerry Johnson Jr.’s jumper. The Bucs also made the Mocs pay for turnovers, scoring 18 points off 14 by UTC. The Mocs, on the other hand, scored just one point off 10 ETSU turnovers.
“We played strong early, like we were supposed to do, but we didn’t keep it up,” said Vila, who had 10 points. “They came out the second half with more energy. We just made some mistakes we didn’t make earlier, and we never recovered.”
Hodges and Good each had 13 points and Boyd added 10 for the Bucs.
The Mocs play at Virginia Military Institute on Thursday and host UNC Greensboro next Saturday.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.