UTC 77, Wofford 68
UTC (14-3, 3-1 SoCon)Ester 4-6 2-4 10, Tuoyo 5-8 4-4 14, Pryor 3-7 6-6 14, Robertson 0-5 0-3 0, McLean 5-10 6-8 16, Oldham 4-4 0-0 8, Burroughs-Cook 1-3 0-0 3, Ethridge 5-12 1-3 12. Totals 27-55 19-25 77.Wofford (6-10, 3-1)Gordon 4-9 1-2 9, Neumann 0-2 0-0 0, Magee 6-12 1-1 18, Garcia 2-6 1-2 7, Collins 8-16 0-0 21, Brooks 0-1 0-0 0, Allen 1-5 0-0 3, Sawvell 5-5 0-0 10, Pegram 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 3-5 68.Halftime—Wofford, 34-30. 3-point goals—UTC 4-15 (Pryor 2-3, Burroughs-Cook 1-2, Ethridge 1-5, Ester 0-1, McLean 0-1, Robertson 0-3); Wofford 13-29 (Magee 5-10, Collins 5-10, Garcia 2-4, Allen 1-4, Gordon 0-1). Rebounds—UTC 34 (McLean 8); Wofford 30 (Neumann 7, Sawvell 7). Assists—UTC 13 (McLean 4); Wofford 19 (Collins 8). Turnovers—UTC 6 (Ester 2); Wofford 14 (Magee 3, Collins 3). Blocks—UTC 2 (Ester, Tuoyo); Wofford none. Steals—UTC 9 (Robertson 3); Wofford 3 (Collins, Brooks, Allen). Total fouls—UTC 11, Wofford 18. Fouled out—none. A—1,108.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Not happy with his team's performance early in the second half of Monday's game at Wofford, Matt McCall burned a quick timeout and got pretty animated in the huddle.
He challenged his players to respond, and they did.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga had a big 18-0 second-half run in defeating Wofford 77-68 in front of 1,108 fans at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Mocs (14-3 overall) improved to 3-1 in the Southern Conference and have a two-game home stand starting with Western Carolina on Thursday at McKenzie Arena.
"Sometimes your team needs that," McCall said of his early timeout. "They need to see me that way. I can't always be the nice guy; I had to jump on them. I needed to have better energy than I had against Furman."
The Mocs shot 55 percent from the field in the second half and made 9 of their 10 free throws after going 9-of-19 from the free-throw line in the loss at Furman on Saturday. The Mocs turned the ball over only six times after committing 20 turnovers against the Paladins.
"We were able to focus more," junior guard Tre' McLean said. "Against Furman, we lost focus of who were are, what we do and what got us our success. We got back on the right track tonight."
He led the team with 16 points, adding eight rebounds and four assists. Justin Tuoyo and Greg Pryor added 14 points each, while Duke Ethridge had 12 points with six rebounds.
Chuck Ester had 10 points with three assists and two steals, and Dee Oldham scored eight points off the bench.
"I see that, and I know we're playing unselfish," McCall said. "For whatever reason on Saturday we didn't do that. Tonight we were playing for each other and were connected, focused and locked in on getting stops."
Spencer Collins had a game-high 21 points and eight assists for Wofford (6-10, 3-1). Freshman Fletcher Magee scored 18 points on 5-of-10 3-point shooting, while Ryan Sawvell had 10 points with seven rebounds.
The Mocs won the rebounding battle 34-30, with a 19-11 edge in the second half.
Wofford led 34-30 at halftime after a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Eric Garcia and built an eight-point lead with a 3 by Collins with 17:49 to play. The Mocs responded by pounding the ball inside for easy baskets and finding shooters open in transition. They also increased their defensive effort, holding the Terriers to four field goals in a 13:44 span of the second half.
The Mocs used an 11-1 run to retake the lead, then the 18-0 spurt to take control with 3:37 to play.
Wofford rallied, cutting the deficit to 70-65 with 1:18 to play, but the Mocs hit seven of eight free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
"In the second half, we were tough and we rebounded," Ester said. "We played as a team and we were locked in the game. We hit our free throws - they're easy points - and we should be able to get to the line and have the confidence to knock them down, and we did that tonight."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.