The turkey and dressing should taste a little better for the University of Tennessee of Chattanooga men’s basketball team after sharing the scoring load to push the Mocs’ streak of victories to five since an 0-3 start.
Their coach certainly expects not letting a win get away Wednesday afternoon at home to make the fourth Thursday of November more enjoyable.
A balanced offensive performance carried UTC to an 84-76 victory over Bryant in the third and final game of the Coke Classic at McKenzie Arena. The Mocs essentially clinched a championship in the three-team round-robin event, with a win the day before Thanksgiving following their 85-78 triumph against Tennessee State on Monday night and Bryant’s 97-85 victory against the Tigers on Tuesday.
The Mocs (5-3) had six scorers in double figures against Bryant (4-4) — an America East Conference program from Smithfield, Rhode Island — as junior forward Makai Richards led the way for UTC with 17 points in 18 minutes while also grabbing five rebounds.
The hosts built double-digit leads in both halves, but the Bulldogs stormed back with a 12-4 run at the end of the first to trail just 39-37 at the break and then took a 42-39 lead on a layup by Earl Timberlake a little less than three minutes into the second. UTC responded with 3-pointers by Bash Wieland and Trey Bonham to regain the advantage and never trailed again, building the lead to as much as 11 on Honor Huff’s 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining.