CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina threw the first punch against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team Saturday.
The Mocs responded with a punch of their own, and it was a haymaker.
Justin Tuoyo and Greg Pryor each scored 15 points to lead three in double figures for UTC, which won its Southern Conference opener 64-48 over the Catamounts in front of 1,020 fans at the Ramsey Center.
The Mocs (10-3, 1-0) play Monday at 7 p.m. at UNC Greensboro (10-5, 1-1) before returning home to host Wofford and Furman in a three-game week.
The Catamounts led 14-5 after a Devin Peterson 3-pointer at the 10:34 mark of the first half, but the Mocs responded with a 14-2 run to take control of the game. Pryor had 13 of his 15 points in the first 20 minutes, making all four of his shots, including three 3-pointers, and both of his free throws, and Tuoyo had nine points.
"We haven't played in 10 days," UTC coach Matt McCall said. "Having not played in that long, we expected a little rust offensively, plus with how they play defensively - wanting to make the game ugly - it was hard to play fluidly on offense because of how they play.
"I'm proud of our team. They didn't flinch and kept playing the game."
The Catamounts got within five late the first half, but Makinde London hit a 3 in the final minute and the Mocs took a 32-24 lead into the break. Then they started the second half with nicely assisted buckets by Jonathan Burroughs-Cook and Casey Jones to build a 12-point lead.
The Mocs' margin maxed out at 18 on a Burroughs-Cook 3-pointer on the way to their first victory in the Ramsey Center in three seasons.
"It's always good to get good momentum going and not come out slow," Pryor said of the second-half start. "That affects us for the rest of the game, so we always look forward to the first couple of minutes of the second half to get us going and try to play the game our way."
Tuoyo had eight rebounds and a season-high seven blocked shots to go along with his point total. Burroughs-Cook scored all 13 of his points in the second half, while Jones and Tre' McLean each finished with nine. Nat Dixon came off the bench and had a team-high three assists, including one to a trailing Tuoyo on the break for a dunk and the foul.
"Our impact players came off the bench and were aggressive on defense and made us get stops," Tuoyo said. "Their energy brought us back in the game and we fed off of it; then everybody got on board. It was a team effort."
UTC held Western Carolina to 34 percent shooting and misses on its final eight 3-point attempts. Haboubacar Mutombo led the Catamounts (5-9, 0-1) with 15 points, while Peterson had 11 off the bench and Adam Sledd scored 10 with eight rebounds.
"Defense is what we pride ourselves on," Tuoyo said. "When everybody is on edge, it's hard to score against us. We just have to keep locking down, keep defending, and when the ball goes up, everybody gets rebounds.
"If we do that, we'll be a hard team to score on."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.