Whether or not University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Lamont Paris and his team feel good about where they are going into the Southern Conference men's basketball tournament, there isn't much they can do about it now.
Sure, the result of the unexpected regular-season finale, an 81-77 overtime loss to Mercer on Wednesday night in Macon, Georgia, likely stings some, but the game had no bearing on the time or the opponent for the Mocs' opening matchup in the SoCon tournament that starts Friday, March 5, in Asheville, North Carolina.
The Mocs (18-7, 9-7) would have solidified fourth place in the league standings with a win, and they can still end up there if East Tennessee State University loses Saturday at home against UNC Greensboro, with a ETSU win giving the Buccaneers the No. 4 seed and dropping the Mocs to No. 5. Either way, UTC and ETSU are playing at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 6, with the Mocs having swept the regular-season series against their rivals from Johnson City with two dramatic finishes.
For UTC, though, a win Wednesday would have been nice, if just to take a feeling of momentum into the nine-day break in between games. The Mocs' regular-season finale was originally set for this Saturday night, a home game against Virginia Military Institute, but the SoCon announced Tuesday that the contest was canceled due to COVID-19 protocol involving VMI.
So with UTC coming off a 60-55 loss at UNCG this past Saturday that ended a six-game winning streak, Wednesday became the last chance to earn one more league victory heading into the postseason.
The Mocs had that in hand with about seven seconds to play in regulation, clinging to a 68-65 lead at Mercer. But one miscue led to a wide-open 3-pointer by Ross Cummings - the Mocs were supposed to foul on the play - and forced overtime, when the Bears (15-9, 8-8) were able to pull away.
Each team had four players score in double figures: David Jean-Baptiste (24), Malachi Smith (22), Darius Banks (12) and A.J. Caldwell (10) for the Mocs, and Kamar Robertson (28), Cummings (14), Neftali Alvarez (11) and James Glisson III (11) for the Bears.
Cummings added eight rebounds and seven assists, Robertson grabbed three steals and Felipe Haase chipped in eight points, seven rebounds and six assists for Mercer.
Staff file photo by Matt Hamilton / UTC senior David Jean-Baptiste had 24 points to lead the Mocs in scoring Wednesday night at Mercer, but the Bears rallied to force overtime and win 81-77.Mocs stars
The Mocs' backcourt tandem of Smith and Jean-Baptiste combined for 46 points, with Smith adding nine rebounds and Jean-Baptiste leading the Mocs with six assists. Each had his high-scoring half: Smith had 16 points in the first 20 minutes, while all of Jean-Baptiste's points came after halftime.
Key stats
The Mocs had leaned on their defense down the stretch of the season, but the Bears converted 53% from the field, the best an opponent has shot against UTC all season. The Mocs went 0-4 in SoCon play when allowing a team to make at least half of its shots.
Turning point
The 3-pointer by Cummings gave the Bears new life, and they made the most of the extra period.
Quotable
"This season had the makings of one of those really, really special seasons from a record standpoint, it just did. And then a lot of things happened and we were able to recover from some of them. We played a couple of games with a roster that we would have preferred not to in terms of depth and who was out there available, but it was a really good season. I'm happy with the things we accomplished and where we're at and what we've done, and I'm proud of these guys and I'm proud of the feeling I have going into the tournament. I've had that feeling before; it's a similar feeling to teams that have finished first place in the conference and then we go into the conference tournament, and that's how I feel about us." - Paris, whose team started the season by going 9-0 in nonconference play to set a program record
"This team shows fight every game, and this team has some fight in them. It's going to be exciting to see in two weeks what we've got." - Jean-Baptiste
Final thought
UTC's crazy, wild regular season with so many twists and turns is over. There are still roster concerns for the Mocs - forward Josh Ayeni wasn't available at Mercer, and after the game Paris said he "hopes" the 6-foot-7 senior will be back for the conference tournament - but as presently constructed, this team has shown it can compete with anyone and everyone in the league and will be on the short list of programs capable of winning the title in Asheville.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.