In his first season as University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach, Lamont Paris’s Mocs were alone at the bottom of the Southern Conference regular-season standings.
Four seasons later, that solitude is reserved for the top.
The Mocs had to battle, but held on for an 83-77 road victory over East Tennessee State Wednesday night at Freedom Hall to improve to 13-4 on the year. Coupled with Furman’s 83-75 loss at Samford Wednesday, the Mocs claimed their 12th regular-season title in school history (20 counting divisional crowns).
As has been the case during their most recent wins, the Mocs (23-7) – who won 22 combined games in Paris’s first two seasons – received contributions from someone other than the team’s primary scoring duo of Malachi Smith and David Jean-Baptiste. Smith did his usual work with 20 points, while adding nine rebounds, but it was Grant Ledford who knocked down seven 3-pointers – six in the first half – on his way to a career-high 25 points for the sophomore.
“It never fails. When you get towards the end of the season and in particularly tournament time, games come down to a special performance by one guy,” Paris said. “Oftentimes it’s your main guys will do something even more special than what they’ve been doing: It’s difficult for them because if you’re averaging 20, what are you going to get, 30? But a guy that’s averaging two can quadruple or quintuple his output by getting 10. It comes down to somebody stepping up and making a plan.”
The Mocs had seen that just a few days prior, when Virginia Military Institute’s guard trio of Honor Huff, Trey Bonham and Kamdyn Curfman combined for 56 points and 10 3s in a win in Chattanooga. Wednesday it was Ledford’s turn.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / UTC’s Grant Ledford (35) looks to pass on a breakaway. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs hosted the Mercer Bears in Southern Conference basketball, at McKenzie Arena, on February 5, 2022. “We know every game we’re going to get the other team’s best game so guys have to step up,” said Ledford, who is 14-29 from 3-point range in his last seven games. “We’ve had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup so we have guys step up; Josh (Ayeni) has had big games, Darius (Banks) has had big games.
“Tonight it was just my night.”
The Mocs built as much as a 20-point lead in the second half before the scrappy Bucs (14-16, 6-11) – down to just six players due to players leaving the program and injuries – battled back, closing to within four late after a flurry of UTC turnovers converted into made shots. Having to foul, the Bucs put Banks at the line, and the senior knocked down a pair to put the game away.
Jean-Baptiste finished with eight points for the Mocs, while Banks, AJ Caldwell and KC Hankton each had seven. Banks, Jean-Baptiste and Caldwell had four assists to lead the team as the Mocs knocked down a season-high 13 3-pointers.
The team finishes the regular season Saturday at home against Samford (20-9, 10-7).
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / UTC cheerleaders urge the crowd to get loud as a Wofford player shoots a free throw on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at McKenzie Arena.