Cougars cool Mocs

UTC rallies to within 12 in rematch

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- John Shulman called time out after the play broke down.

He walked on the floor, grabbed the attention of DeAntre Jefferson and asked a simple question: "What are you doing?"

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach could have asked the same question to any of his Mocs at that point. They trailed by 26 points early in the second half of an eventual 86-74 Southern Conference loss at the College of Charleston.

"I'd love to play them one more time," said Shulman, whose team lost 90-66 to Charleston in Chattanooga. "I want them to beat us when we do what we're supposed to do. Then if they whip our tail, they whip our tail."

Charleston (15-8, 10-2) set a team record with 17 3-point baskets in the win. Tony White Jr. led all players with 19 points. Andrew Goudelock and Matt Sundberg each scored 17 points with five 3s. Sundberg's previous career high was 10 points.

Jefferson led the Mocs (13-11, 5-6) with 13 points. Ricky Taylor scored 12 and Ty Patterson added 11, all in the second half.

"In the second half we started playing aggressive, getting steals, and we pushed the ball and got easy layups and good shots," Patterson said. "That's what we should have done. If we'd have played like that for the whole game, I think we'd have a good chance at winning."

A 16-0 run for the Mocs followed Shulman's heated timeout and pulled them within 13 points with more than 12 minutes to go. They appeared to be a completely different team from the one wearing black jerseys for the first 24 minutes of the game.

The Mocs trailed 43-24 at halftime and by as many as 29 before switching to a zone defense.

Charleston coach Bobby Cremins called his own timeout when UTC pulled within 59-46, and Shulman ran on to the court to slap hands with Chris Early and the other four Mocs on the floor.

"You really had us scared," Cremins told Shulman as they crossed paths after the game.

Freshman Josh Odem tipped in a miss to pull the Mocs within 66-56 with 8:41 to go. But Sundberg hit the fourth of his five 3-pointers, and his final 3 put the Cougars ahead 18 points.

"Chattanooga was down and out and I thought we were going to give them the knockout punch, but they made a great comeback," Cremins said. "We were playing some great basketball, and I have to look back to see what happened."

In the first half, when Charleston was playing at its best, Patterson and Bell combined to go 0-for-8 from the floor including 0-for-6 on 3s. UTC scored just 12 points in the final 13:30 of the first half.

Early on, the Mocs scored three easy baskets because they beat the Cougars down the floor. UTC scored its first 10 points inside.

Then the Mocs stopped scoring and their heads started dropping as White, Goudelock and Sundberg buried eight 3s, including three from at least 25 feet out.

"The first half was just nasty basketball by Chattanooga," UTC point guard Keegan Bell said. "We weren't rebounding, we weren't shooting the ball well and they were making tough shots."

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