Malachi Smith hit a go-ahead jumper with 42 seconds to play, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga scored the final five points of the game to hold off hot-shooting Virginia Military Institute and earn a 78-74 win in Southern Conference competition Saturday afternoon.
The league-leading Mocs (16-4, 6-1), who completed a 2-0 road trip with the victory at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Virginia, return home to face Wofford at 7 p.m. Wednesday at McKenzie Arena before visits to The Citadel (Jan. 29) and Samford (Feb. 2).
Smith scored a game-high 25 points while grabbing six steals and five rebounds. David Jean-Baptiste added 15 points, Silvio De Sousa 13 and Darius Banks 10 for UTC, which won despite the Keydets (11-9, 4-4) making 10 of their final 12 field-goal attempts – although the hosts’ last shot was a potential tying 3-pointer that Kamdyn Curfman missed.
Jean-Baptiste also had a steal on VMI’s prior possession with UTC up 75-74, and the veteran guard made two free throws to stretch the lead to three.
Banks, who made a free throw for the game’s final point and led the Mocs with seven rebounds, said of the Keydets’ hot finish: “We just make sure we keep our head straight and make sure we focus on the next one. We can’t dwell on the last play; we just have to get the next one and make sure we get the rebound.”