Late rally falls short for Mocs in SoCon quarterfinal loss to ETSU

UTC's Jerry Johnson Jr. shoots while guarded by ETSU's Mladen Armus during a SoCon tournament quarterfinal game Saturday in Asheville, N.C.
UTC's Jerry Johnson Jr. shoots while guarded by ETSU's Mladen Armus during a SoCon tournament quarterfinal game Saturday in Asheville, N.C.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - In similar situations the past six weeks, the odds on a comeback by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team would have made a Las Vegas sportsbook's high-risk board.

Down nine points with 12 minutes to play in a Southern Conference tournament quarterfinal against East Tennessee State University, which beat UTC soundly twice in the regular season, the Mocs nearly made it all the way back. The gutsy rally, which included a possession with UTC down a point late, fell short as the Buccaneers escaped 68-64 on Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

The fifth-seeded Mocs finished their season 12-20, while fourth-seeded ETSU (24-8), which was paced by Tray Boyd's 21 points, advanced to face No. 1 seed Wofford (27-4) in Sunday's semifinal round. Wofford, which is ranked 22nd nationally, beat No. 8 seed Virginia Military Institute 99-72 in Saturday's first quarterfinal.

"I thought the guys competed really hard today, and that gave us a great chance to be in position to get done what we came here for," UTC coach Lamont Paris said. "I was really happy about the way they competed, above all else. Some things that our guys at times have struggled with and remembered to do or have done this season - today they were locked in and they were focused."

David Jean-Baptiste led the Mocs with 17 points, followed by Ramon Vila with 16 and Kevin Easley with nine points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block. The Mocs were a sizzling 10-of-19 from behind the 3-point line, including back-to-back makes by Maurice Commander and Jean-Baptiste just after falling behind 53-44 with 12:12 to play.

ETSU's lead was four when Jean-Baptiste, for the second time in the half, hit a 25-foot 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer, this time at the 2:34 mark. The Miami native, the only letterman who returned from Paris's first UTC team, was 4-for-7 from 3-point range. His big shots repeatedly injected new life into the Mocs down the stretch.

"Those were definitely some tough shots, but they had to be made and Coach emphasizes making the play in tough times," Jean-Baptiste said. "With the shot clock going down, you just have to make a play, so I just did what I did. I thank my coaches for having that confidence in me to take those kind of shots, so I did and the shots went in."

The momentum continued when Jonathan Scott stripped the ball away after a Bucs' offensive rebound, but UTC quickly turned it back over, leading to Bo Hodges' layup with 1:34 left.

The play for Hodges, who had six of his 12 points in the final six minutes, was a simple one for ETSU coach Steve Forbes to call.

"We call (the play) 'Memphis,'" Forbes said. "I played with a guy in college who was a great scorer. His definition of give and go was give me the ball and go get the hell out of my way. Basically, that was give and go: Give Bo the ball and go get the hell out of his way."

After UTC missed a 3-pointer, Boyd made a jumper to push the Bucs' lead to five with just less than a minute left. Jean-Baptiste drove to the basket with 18 seconds to go and cut the Mocs' deficit to two, but Daivien Williamson hit a pair of free throws to ice the Bucs' semifinal berth.

Sophomore forward Vila, who was 7-for-8 from the field and added five rebounds, was asked about future expectations for a team that had freshmen and sophomores combine for 145 of the 200 minutes played Saturday.

"I'm not going to make any predictions now. That's not my job," said Vila, a native of Barcelona, Spain, who started his collegiate career at Arizona State and played his first game for the Mocs in mid-December. "What I can guarantee you guys is that we are going to work really hard this summer. Of course by next season, we'll have more experience and we'll be right there.

"We'll be better than this year, for sure. We're going to work as hard as we can to go as high as we can."

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

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