UTC men drop key SoCon game at Mercer, 74-69

UTC Mocs logo
UTC Mocs logo

MACON, Ga. - Much like the second half of this season, the second half of Saturday's 74-69 loss at Mercer was a case of missed opportunity for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team.

The Mocs (12-17, 7-9 Southern Conference) led 42-34 at halftime, but Mercer junior guard Ross Cummings scored a career-high 37 points - including 26 after halftime - as UTC's shooting dipped from 59 percent in the first half to 34 in the second.

UTC, which played its second consecutive game without injured freshman star Kevin Easley, the team's leading scorer and rebounder this season, still holds a one-game lead for fifth place in the SoCon standings over Mercer (11-17, 6-10) and Samford entering the final week. But a UTC win in Macon would have locked out the Bears while also clinching a first-round bye at the SoCon tournament for the Mocs, who end the regular season with a pair of home games - against tourney No. 1 seed Wofford (24-4, 16-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday and against fourth-place Furman (22-6, 11-5) at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Jerry Johnson Jr. led UTC with 17 points, followed by David Jean-Baptiste with 15. The teams split games this season, with the Mocs winning the Jan. 17 meeting at McKenzie Arena 73-70 on some late-game heroics by Ramon Vila.

UTC coach Lamont Paris was more upset about his team's 41-25 rebounding disadvantage, which led to 18 second-chance points for Mercer, than Cummings' career game.

"He's a good player, no question," Paris said of Cummings, whose scoring average of 17.2 points per game is fourth in the SoCon. "He scores points like that for a reason and he takes nearly a third of their shots, so he's going to score, and they needed every single one of them.

"They missed enough shots for us to be up 12 points at one time, but we gave up too many second-chance points. That's the bottom line. Eighteen points, think about that. That's not a formula for success."

The Mocs were a sizzling 8-of-13 from 3-point range in the first half, including three from reserve A.J. Caldwell. His trey with 11 seconds to play in the half put UTC up 12, but the Bears closed with four quick points.

Jaylen Stowe hit a layup, was fouled and missed the free throw, which led to an offensive rebound and Ethan Stair's jumper at the buzzer. The late swing was a portent of things to come.

"We imploded at the end of the first half for some reason," Paris said. "Those four points, you take those away and it changes the whole scope of things. We just didn't make winning plays."

The Mercer momentum carried over as the gap closed to one in the first eight minutes of the second half. Cummings then took over by scoring 21 consecutive Mercer points, 18 of them during a 17-5 run that turned the game around.

He hit five 3-pointers during the stretch, two coming with defenders draped on him in the corner. The last two came after Jean-Baptiste's drive tied the game at 61 with 3:06 to play. Cummings hit the first from the wing, then, after a missed UTC one-and-one free throw, he hit the dagger off an offensive rebound while falling out of bounds on the baseline.

"The big thing today was keeping our composure and playing together and getting back to playing our style of defense," Cummings said. "We don't want to play that play-in game at the tournament."

With Mercer then up six with 2:02 to play, the Bears got a defensive stop and two offensive rebounds before big man Fardows Aimaq, who had eight offensive rebounds, hit a layup to all but secure the win.

The second chances had Paris more than a bit frustrated.

"Overall, as a team we didn't compete on the boards," he said. "We've got to do some soul searching, because effort is one of the things that you can control. What are you made out of? What fuels you?

"It's not just the bigs. Sometimes, in our ball-screen coverages, the bigs run out a bit. Our guards have to fight down inside, but we got none of that."

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.

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