CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team heads into Thanksgiving on a sour note losing 87-75 to Jackson State Wednesday night.  Chattanooga is now 2-4 on the season, while the Tigers improve to 1-5.

DeAntre Jefferson (Bloomington, Ill.) and Ricky Taylor (Brownsville, Tenn.) tied for team-high scoring honors with 18 apiece.  Jefferson's came on a perfect shooting night hitting 8-8 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line.

JSU's Jenirro Bush led all scorers with 31 points, while grabbing six rebounds.  Three other Tigers joined him in double-digits including Rod Melvin who tallied 13 points and eight assists.

The Mocs led by 10 points twice in the first half.  A three-point play by Jefferson on a tip-in made it 21-11 at 11:29.  Leading 26-17 at 6:21, Chattanooga's offense went cold as the Tigers closed the half on a 19-5 run to take a 36-31 advantage into intermission.

Jackson State built its lead to nine, 51-42 on a Grant Maxey three-point play at 14:58.  But the Mocs stormed back.

A 10-0 run gave Chattanooga the lead, 52-51, on a Jefferson layup with 12:38 remaining.  Jefferson had six points in the run with the other four coming on one play as Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) was fouled shooting a three-pointer and made the free throw.

Bush quickly answered hitting a three-pointer at 11:53 to give the Tigers the lead for good at 54-52.  The Mocs got as close as seven, 63-56, when JSU went on a 12-3 run to take its largest lead of the game, 75-59, on a Bush layup.

Bush scored 20 of his 31 points in the second half.  The Tigers scored 51 after intermission shooting 69.2 percent (18-26) from the field.

Offense was not a problem for Chattanooga.  It scored 44 in the second half and 75 is its highest output of the young season.  Four Mocs ended up in double figures as Chris Early (Huntington, W. Va.) had 11 and Wattad scored 10. 

Keegan Bell (Hazel Green, Ala.) had a season-high 10 assists with just two turnovers as Chattanooga accumulated 23 assists on the evening against just 11 turnovers.

Defense was the concern for the Mocs tonight.  Leading 57-53 with 9:44 to play, the Tigers scored on eight straight possessions to put the game away.

Tyrone Hanson had a strong all-around effort for JSU.  He posted eight points, eight boards and eight assists.  Grant Maxey came off the bench to add 12 points and five rebounds, while De'Suan Dixon chipped in 11 points and five assists.

JSU led the battle on the boards 34-31 behind Hanson's eight.  Jefferson and Early tied for Chattanooga's high of seven.

It's back to the road for the Mocs after Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  Chattanooga travels to Mimi to face FIU at 7:30 p.m.  Live video, audio and stats are available at GoMocs.com.  Please note the time change from 7 to 7:30 p.m.