The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga clinched a top-six seed and a first-round bye for next week’s Southern Conference men’s basketball tournament with a 71-64 win Wednesday night at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.
The Mocs (18-12, 9-8) never trailed on their way to the victory that completed a regular-season series sweep of VMI, racing out to a 12-0 lead and leading by 20 in the second half before the Keydets (8-22, 3-14) surged to make the score respectable at the end.
Matt Ryan led UTC with 18 points, eight of them coming during the opening run, and had a team-high eight rebounds.
Maurice Commander shook off a recent shooting slump to add 15 points and six rebounds for the Mocs, while reserve Trey Doomes had 13 points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes and Ramon Vila contributed 12 points and seven boards.
The win, coupled with Wofford’s 60-54 loss to East Tennessee State University, put the Mocs in sixth place in the SoCon standings and a game up on Wofford with one to play. With a series sweep of Wofford on its side, UTC, which hosts UNC Greensboro at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at McKenzie Arena to close the regular season, will not drop below sixth in the standings.