The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team used a dominant second half to pull away from The Citadel on Saturday at McKenzie Arena, picking up an 85-67 win over the Bulldogs to improve to 13-3 overall and 3-0 in the Southern Conference.
The Mocs - who shot 59% from the field in the second half - hit the road again Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game at Western Carolina (7-8, 1-1), which first must visit East Tennessee State on Monday. UTC's next home game is a big matchup against Furman at 3 p.m. next Saturday.
Malachi Smith led UTC in scoring against The Citadel with 27 points, adding four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. David Jean-Baptiste contributed 16 points and three assists, and Silvio De Sousa added 15 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks while A.J. Caldwell had 11 points.
"The guys played inspired defense in the second half," UTC coach Lamont Paris said. "We got locked in on being more solid and what we wanted to do defensively. We showed a lot of attention to the ball when it got around the basket, and I thought that was a big part of the game."
Avery Diggs added seven points for the Mocs, who led 36-31 at halftime, and Darius Banks had six points, five rebounds and three steals. More notably, Banks was lauded for his defensive performance against the Bulldogs' Hayden Brown, who was limited to four points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes.
Brown had 37 points and 13 rebounds in a win over the Mocs last season in Charleston, South Carolina. He entered Saturday's game averaging 19.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists this season.
"If you do a good job on him, that is going to affect their overall offensive productivity, and that's where it started," Paris said. "We did a really good job there as Banks had the assignment for most of the game. He just accepted the challenge and wanted the challenge, and he responded like a fifth-year senior would do that was on a mission."
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.