INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The Chattanooga Mocs (0-2) dropped a hard-fought 57-46 defensive struggle at Butler (1-1) in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse Tuesday night. The two teams traded blows all night as neither shot better than 37 percent from the field.
Ricky Taylor (Brownsville, Tenn.) led UTC with 13 points, four rebounds and three steals. Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) had 10 points for the Mocs.
Andrew Smith led all scorers pacing the Bulldogs with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The 2011 NCAA Runner-up banner was raised prior to the game.
Leading 28-27 at the break, Butler opened the second half with a 13-4 run to go up 41-31 on a Ronald Nored three-pointer at 15:11. With the old building rocking, it seemed the Mocs were about to get run out of the gym by the mid-major darlings.
But Taylor and his teammates responded. He scored on a three-point play to stop the bleeding, and then Wattad hit a huge three to get the Mocs within six, 43-37, at 14:12. Taylor would cap a 9-2 run with a jumper at 13:32 to get UTC to down just three at 43-40.
A Smith jumper with 9:46 to go got the lead back to six, 47-41, as Taylor's jumper was the last field goal of the game for the Mocs. Even so, two Keegan Bell (Huntsville, Ala.) free throws got Chattanooga within three at 47-44 (6:07), but the Bulldogs would not be denied.
A 7-0 run was capped by a Chase Stigall dunk at 1:26 put the lead at 10, 54-44, with 1:26 to go. It cemented the Butler win.
Neither team found its stride on the offensive end. The Mocs shot 36.4 percent while holding Butler to just 37 percent itself. It was simply a defensively-charged game from start to finish.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a six-point lead early, 13-7, on a Chrishawn Hopkins jumper at 12:54. The lead rose to seven, 21-14 at 6:37, on two Smith free throws. Chattanooga bounced back with a 10-2 run to take its first lead since early in the contest, 24-23, on a Drazen Zlovaric (Novi Sad, Serbia) layup at 3:03.
Zlovaric scored all eight of his points in the first half on a myriad of post plays. He helped spark the Mocs into trailing by one, 28-27, at intermission.
Chattanooga returns home for four games beginning Friday night at 7 p.m., against Kennesaw State. Live video, audio and stats are available at GoMocs.com via the men's basketball schedule page. Fans can also follow on Twitter (@GoMocs) for notes, stats and more.
The annual Chi Omega Chili Cook-off will be going on during pre-game outside of the McKenzie Arena, while it is also Youth Night (all youth 17 & under get free general admission ticket to the game). The Mocs will hold an autograph session after the contest.
Tickets are available at the McKenzie Arena ticket office, by phone at (423) 266-MOCS (6627) and online at GoMocs.com. Half-priced general admission tickets ($4) are available online to print at home using promo code ITSTIME. Offer expires two hours before each home contest.
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