CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Senior Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) led a quintet of double digit scorers in the Chattanooga Mocs (5-8) 85-50 win over Longwood (4-9) in the opening round of the 22nd Dr Pepper Classic. Wattad scored 15 of his game-high 18 points in a second-half surge as UTC out-scored the Lancers 53-20 after intermission.

It was a special night for a pair of seniors. Ricky Taylor (Brownsville, Tenn.) scored his 1,000th point in the second half, while Keegan Bell (Huntsville, Ala.) missed a school record and triple-double by one assist and rebound, respectively.

Taylor's 1,000th point came on a three-pointer from the right corner at 7:53 of the second half on a feed from Bell. The trey capped an 11-0 run to give the Mocs a 64-41 lead.

Bell's night included a career-high 16 assists, one shy of Gary Robb's (1993-94) school record set 19 years ago to the day in a 114-112 win over Southern on December 29, 1992 in that year's Dr Pepper Classic opener. He added 10 points and nine rebounds to just miss his second triple-double of the season.

It was a dominating second half for Chattanooga. After the Lancers tied the score at 32-all with the first basket of the frame, UTC went on its first 11-0 run to go up 41-32 on Bell's layup at 14:50. Longwood never got the score closer to nine the rest of the way.

It was a team effort across the board. Jahmal Burroughs (New Orleans, La.) and Z. Mason (Nashville, Tenn.) scored 10 apiece with Mason grabbing seven rebounds. Drazen Zlovaric (Novi Sad, Serbia) had 10 rebounds to pace a 56-31 advantage on the glass for Chattanooga.

Antwan Carter led Longwood with 15 points and seven rebounds. David Robinson came off the bench to chip in 13 points, while Tristan Carey added 12.

The Lancers made four of their first seven three-pointers to lead by as many as six early in the first half. Robinson's layup at 12:20 made it 19-13 LU. UTC scored six straight with baskets by Mason and Dontay Hampton (Chattanooga, Tenn.) sandwiching two free throws by Ronrico White (Knoxville, Tenn.).

Tonight's effort was won in the paint for the Mocs. They out-scored the Lancers 44-14 inside the lane to go with the 25-rebound margin.

Chattanooga shot 48.5 percent (32-66) from the floor for the game, 57.6 percent (19-33) in the second half. After making just one of 13 three-point attempts (7.7%) before the break, UTC canned eight of 14 (57.1%) in the second frame.

Conversely, the Lancers struggled after a hot start from beyond the arc. They shot seven of 35 for the game (20.0%) and three for 28 (10.7%) the rest of the way. In fact after the first basket of the second half, Longwood shot 11.1 percent from the floor (3-27) the rest of the way.

Utah Valley claimed the opening game of the Dr Pepper Classic with a 42-40 win over Hampton. Ben Aird came off the bench for 15 points and eight rebounds to pace the Wolverines, Mike Tuitt's 11 points and four steals led the Tigers.

The consolation matchup between Longwood and Hampton begins at 4:30 p.m., Friday in McKenzie Arena. The Mocs and Utah Valley square off at 7 p.m.

The games can be viewed on GoMocs.com via MocsVision along with live audio. Follow @GoMocs on twitter for stats and notes in game and go to GoMocs.com for links to live stats as well as post-game information.