The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team cruised Wednesday night to an 84-60 win over Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
UTC’s Honor Huff finished with a game-high 25 points, shooting 7-for-11 from 3-point range while adding five rebounds and three assists to his stat line. It was an otherwise cool shooting night from the perimeter for the Mocs, who improved to 14-8 overall this season and 6-3 in Southern Conference play, but they did dominate the Catamounts on the interior with a 46-26 edge in points in the paint and a 47-29 rebounding advantage, holding Western Carolina (6-14, 2-7) to one offensive rebound.
Frank Champion and Bash Wieland finished with 12 points each for the Mocs, with Wieland matching Garrison Keeslar for a game high with four assists. Keeslar added seven points and a game-high 13 rebounds while limiting Bernard Pelote, the Catamounts’ leading scorer for the season, to eight points on 4-for-13 shooting.
“We dealt with a lot of injuries to start the year, and so it was tough to get a flow and get going,” Keeslar said. “We had guys in and out of the lineup, so we knew as the season went on, we were just going to continue to jell and work with everyone else on the court. When Frank came back, that was later in the season, and he’s getting his legs back now and you can see what he can do, so now we’re working around, playing around each other, and we’re starting to figure each other out, and it’s fun when we get to do it.
“Tonight was a prime example of that. Everyone contributed, did what they had to do, and we got the win.”
The Mocs used 14 players in the game, with 12 scoring at least a point as UTC never trailed and led by as many as 32 in the second half. They had only seven offensive rebounds, but they converted those into 14 second-chance points.
“It was a tough game in that we were doing OK early and we were getting some wide-open looks,” UTC coach Dan Earl said. “We missed some, and then we were taking some shots that you didn’t need to take, so you’re trying to impress upon the guys how important it is to just be solid and disciplined on every possession, whether you’re rushing shots early or you’re up 20 or 30 or whatever it is, you still want to be doing the right thing.
“At times we played really well and solid, and I thought our defensive energy was there throughout, so I was really proud of our guys for that, but some other times we got a little loose and started taking some tougher shots. But on the whole, we’ll take it.”
Marcus Kell made all six of his free throws while leading Western Carolina in scoring with 15 points — he also blocked two shots — and was joined in double figures by teammate Cord Stansberry with 11. The Catamounts trailed 44-25 by halftime.
With their SoCon regular-season schedule halfway over, the Mocs sit third in the league standings, behind Samford (17-5, 7-2) and UNC Greenboro (14-8, 7-2). UTC lost to both of those teams, with the other league loss in the opener, 99-94 in overtime to Mercer on Jan. 1 in Macon, Georgia.
The Mocs will start the second half of their league slate when Mercer (11-1, 4-5) visits McKenzie Arena at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Bears have won two of three games since dropping four in a row.
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.