Wednesday’s home game against Western Carolina was already starting to teeter in favor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team with less than five minutes to play.
UTC senior Frank Champion put away any doubts about the outcome in one change of possession.
After blocking a shot by Marcus Kell, whose prolific scoring had helped the Catamounts contend in the Southern Conference matchup at McKenzie Arena, Champion raced downcourt and caught a lob from Trey Bonham for a dunk that pushed the Mocs’ lead to eight and proved to be the exclamation point in a 91-86 victory.
And now the Mocs (20-8, 12-3), winners of eight straight games, are all alone in first place in the SoCon standings with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season and three games on UTC’s schedule before the league tournament tips off in Asheville, North Carolina.
Along with their win, the Mocs were helped when rival East Tennessee State University dealt visiting UNC Greensboro a 65-49 loss Wednesday night, dropping the Spartans to 18-10, 11-4. UNCG, UTC and Samford had recently shared first place, but the latter lost at home to the Mocs last week, then fell further behind with Wednesday’s 80-72 loss to Furman. The Bulldogs (20-8, 10-5) are alone in third, with Wofford (15-13, 9-6) and ETSU (16-12, 9-6) filling out the top half of the 10-team standings.