The Thursday GoMocs.com Top 10 Moments series continues today with No. 5. Check the countdown out here with No. 6, No. 7, No. 8, No. 9 and No. 10.
 
Merriam-Webster defines "Adversity" as a difficult situation or condition; misfortune or tragedy. Check, check, check and check…the Chattanooga Mocs claimed all markers heading into a December 12 matchup at Dayton.
 
This was a Flyers team that had beaten Alabama (by 32 points), Iowa and the early media darlings from Monmouth. It would go on to share the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and get an at large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Looking back over the season, you can't really pick a win that was better than the 61-59 triumph at UD. It had intrigue, significant runs…really, everything you'd want in a high-level collegiate game. Only one thing was missing, well, one person.
 
Southern Conference Preseason Player of the Year Casey Jones missed the game with what turned out to be a season-ending ankle injury sustained the day before. Without question, it was a shock to the system.
 
Not only did Jones get injured the day before. It was at practice prior to the team boarding the bus to head to Dayton.
 
So Chattanooga headed north without their star captain. The Flyers were 7-1 soaring along the jet stream coming off a win at No. 16 Vanderbilt. They were pretty much assured a Top 25 rank when the polls were next released after dispatching an under-manned Mocs squad.
 
Some-how, some-way, this scrappy group went off script.
   
A good start for certain. The Mocs led by as many as eight in the first half before heading into intermission stunning the near-capacity crowd up 29-24.
 
The Flyers came out in the second half like you'd expect. They flipped the score pretty quickly with a 13-2 run to start the second frame. It was 46-40 for the home team when Eric Robertson and Greg Pryor nailed threes.
 
Robertson cut the lead in half after Tre' McLean's kept the possession alive with an offensive board. Then 15 seconds later, Pryor converted a 3pt off a steal at mid-court.
 

via GIPHY

 
Over the next six minutes, neither team led by more than a single possession. It was knotted at 55-all when one of the bigger statements of the season unfolded.
 
Chuck Ester drove the lane and made a great pass to Justin Tuoyo on the baseline. Well, we could tell you all about it, but why not show you.
 

via GIPHY

 
After taking a four-point lead, 59-55, on a Pryor basket with 2:02 to go, the Mocs went quiet on the offensive end. Two turnovers and a missed basket was offset by a Charles Cooke layup and two one-for-two trips to the free throw line by Cooke and Kendall Pollard. The latter came with 31 seconds to go.
 
The likely final possession. The Mocs made the most of it. Pryor forced the defense to foul with 5.3 ticks left. He calmly made both free throws, while Tuoyo played heads-up defense for the win.
   
So while fans, media and a certain communications staffer who 99 percent of the time is overly optimistic muttered about hoping to keep it close…hoping to have a good showing…hoping beyond hope…the team shut everything else out.
 
That group focused on one possession at a time and proved that down to its core, this was a special team. It did something Alabama couldn't, VCU couldn't nor could Arkansas, Davidson or George Washington…it captured a win at UD Arena in 2015-16.