JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Keegan Bell led the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team to an 80-71 win at Jacksonville State (2-4) on Tuesday night at Mathews Coliseum. Bell scored 17 points to go with eight assists and five rebounds for Chattanooga (4-3) in his return to his home state (Hazel Green).
Bell led a quartet of Mocs in double digits with Ricky Taylor coming off the bench to score 13 and add a career high eight rebounds. Trenton Marshall led the Gamecocks with 20 points off the bench. It was close throughout the first half with the Mocs up four, 28-24 with 6:40 left until the break. From there, the Mocs opened to an 11-point margin on a Taylor three-pointer at 3:45 to go up 39-28. Chattanooga led by as many as 12 before taking a 47-39 advantage into intermission.
The Gamecocks came out of the break firing hitting three straight threes en route to a 12-0 run to open the second taking a 51-47 lead on a John Barnes free throw at 16:29. Josh Odem ended the run with a three from the left wing at 16:21. He followed driving the baseline for a reverse layup at 15:14 to put the Mocs back on top at 52-51.
Chattanooga pushed to a six-point margin, 62-56 on back-to-back baskets in the post from DeAntre Jefferson with the second coming at 9:19. The Gamecocks then went on a 7-0 run reclaiming the lead, 63-62, on a Marshall layup at 6:36. Jeremy Saffore answered at 6:19 to put the Mocs back in front at 64-63. Nick Murphy tied it hitting the second of two free throws at 5:54.
Defense took over for the Mocs as they held JSU without a field goal for 4:10. Chattanooga took a 70-65 lead on an Odem three, but Marshall answered with a three of his own to cut it to two, 70-68, at 2:26.
But the Mocs would not be deterred. Bell scored six of his team-high 17 down the stretch to lead Chattanooga to the 80-71 win. The Mocs out-scored JSU 36-20 in the paint although they were out-rebounded 36-30. Chattanooga made the most of its offensive rebounds scoring 18 second chance points on nine offensive boards.
Odem had 13 points, while Jeff Smith chipped in with 11. Taylor was four-for-six from three-point range while the rest of the team hit two-for-13.
Jay-R Stowbridge score 15 for JSU, four coming on three-pointers. Jeremy Bynum tossed in 14, followed by Murphy with 13 points and game-high 11 boards.
The Mocs took care of the ball tonight with just 10 turnovers while scoring 19 points on 16 Gamecocks miscues.
After five games in 10 days on the road, the Mocs finally return to the McKenzie Arena on Saturday, Dec. 5, hosting its Southern Conference opener against Elon at 7 p.m.
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