MURRAY, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team battled but fell short 73-62 at Ohio Valley Conference favorite Murray State (9-2) on Saturday afternoon.  The win was the ninth in 10 games for the Racers.

Ty Patterson led Chattanooga (5-6) with 16 points including four three-pointers.  Junior forward DeAntre Jefferson added a double-double with 10 points and game-high 11 rebounds for the Mocs.

Murray State was paced by Tony Easley and Isaiah Canaan with 16 points apiece.  Ivan Aska added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.  Easley added four rebounds and five blocks.

Down 8-6 early, the Mocs defense held Murray State without a field goal for nearly seven minutes (6:47).  Chattanooga went on a 12-0 run taking an 18-8 lead on Patterson's third straight three-pointer with 14:19 left in the half.

The Racers mounted a charge as the Mocs hit just five field goals in the final 10 minutes of the half allowing Murray State to take a 36-34 lead into the break.  Patterson scored 16 of the Mocs' 34 first half points.

With the score at 49-45 in favor of Murray State with just under 14 minutes to play, the Racers went on a 9-2 run to go up by 11, 58-47 on a Jeffrey McClain layup with 11:42 left.

The Mocs closed to six points twice at 7:36 (60-54) on a Jeremy Saffore slam dunk and again at 6:04 (62-56) on a Saffore follow.

Murray State threatened to put the game away going back up by 11, 67-56, on two Donte Poole free throws at 5:08.  But the Mocs did not go away quietly closing to 67-62 on a Ridge McKeither basket with 2:20.  But it was the last points of the game as the Racers closed with the final six points for the 73-62 margin.

The Mocs turned the ball over 18 times in the game with 11 steals credited to the Racers.  MSU scored 22 points off those 18 miscues.  Chattanooga did win the battle of the boards 37-32 including a 21-16 advantage in the second half.

Chattanooga sophomore Keegan Bell played just eight minutes due to being out through the week with a stomach virus.  Ranked eighth in the nation in assists, Bell managed just one on the day.

Chattanooga completes its pre-Christmas portion of the schedule on Monday at 7 p.m., in the McKenzie Arena hosting Tennessee Temple.  The Mocs return to host the Dr Pepper Classic Dec. 29-30 with Eastern Kentucky, Long Island and Morgan State coming to town.  EKU will square off with Morgan State at 6 p.m., on the 29th, followed by the Mocs and LIU at 8 p.m.