The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team earned a big road victory Thursday night, using nine first-half 3-pointers to assume control against Evansville before rolling to a 75-67 win over the Aces.
The Mocs (6-4) exacted a small amount of revenge after the Missouri Valley Conference program from Indiana came to Chattanooga last season and rallied from 20 points down to beat UTC in a multiteam event at McKenzie Arena.
UTC coach Dan Earl tinkered with the lineup in the trip to Evansville (3-7), going with guards Trey Bonham and Jack Kostel and forwards Frank Champion, Garrison Keeslar and Bash Wieland.
That meant regular starter Honor Huff had to come off the bench for the first time in his UTC career, and the 5-foot-10 junior guard — who was shooting just 24% from 3-point range this season entering Thursday — responded by scoring 12 points and handing out four assists while going 4-for-9 from behind the arc. His final 3, with 1:38 remaining, came with the shot clock winding down and put UTC up 71-60. It also put him over 1,000 points for his career.
Bonham scored a game-high 22 points, while Champion — playing for just the second time this season — added 12, all coming in the second half.
“I told Coach at halftime to just trust me,” said Champion, a two-time NCAA Division II All-American at the University of North Georgia before transferring after last season. “I kind of told him let me play, keep going, because this is the time to build that confidence and build that reputation back now.”
UTC’s bench, a strong point all season regardless of who was coming off of it, outscored the Evansville reserves 34-13. Along with Huff’s 12, redshirt freshman forward Collin Mulholland had a trio of 3-pointers for nine points, while classmate Sean Cusano added seven. Keeslar’s seven rebounds were a game high.
Tanner Cuff’s 18 points paced Evansville, and he was joined in double figures by teammates Tayshawn Comer (15) — who had a game-high eight assists — and Gabriel Pozzato (12).
“Evansville is a good team, and playing on the road against a Missouri Valley team I think says a lot about our effort tonight,” Earl said. “There was some late game things that we certainly have to clean up, but on the whole a lot of guys positively impacted the game. We got some really good minutes from some guys, and it was an all-around good game.”
The Mocs host Alabama A&M at 2 p.m. Sunday, the start of a three-game stretch before Christmas that will be followed by a week-plus break from action before the start of Southern Conference play on New Year’s Day.
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.