The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team is planning a blackout for Saturday’s Southern Conference home game against UNC Greensboro.
The Mocs got a taste of the real thing Thursday night at Virginia Military Institute.
A power outage at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Virginia, caused a lengthy delay, but UTC used a season-high 16 points from Thomas Smallwood to escape with a 71-70 win. The Mocs, who also received 11 points each from David Jean-Baptiste, Donovann Toatley and Ramon Vila, won despite not scoring in the game’s final 3:04.
The Keydets (7-16, 1-10), though, only scored four points over the final 7:48 and had the final possession, which ended with Jake Stephens missing a 3-point shot with a second left.
The Mocs (11-14, 5-6), who broke a four-game SoCon losing streak with the win, took the lead for good on Smallwood’s 3-pointer with 4:25 to play. The 7-foot center finished 4-for-4 from 3-point range and added six rebounds. The graduate transfer’s performance helped overcome a combined 7-for-22 shooting night from Kevin Easley (eight points) and Toatley, the Mocs’ leading scorers this season.