CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The Chattanooga Mocs (2-6/0-2) took a heartbreaking double overtime defeat, 87-85, at the hands of College of Charleston (7-1/2-0) in TD Arena Saturday afternoon. Chris Early (Huntington, W.Va.) led five UTC student-athletes in double figures with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

The game featured 12 ties and 11 lead changes in a nip-and-tuck battle throughout. The biggest lead was nine, 43-34 by the Mocs, after three Ronrico White (Knoxville, Tenn.) free throws with 13:35 left in regulation.

CofC chipped away at the lead. Anthony Stitt hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the score at 51-all with 7:38 to go. Early canned a three to end the run, but the Cougars pressed on with three-pointers by Antwaine Wiggins and Andrew Lawrence along with an "and one" by Stitt to go up six, 60-54 with just over three minutes remaining.

In a recurring theme, as the Cougars looked to take over momentum, the Mocs had an answer. Early, Keegan Bell (Huntsville, Ala.) and Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) knocked down threes in successive possessions to turn a six-point deficit into a three-point lead with just over a minute to go.

It came down to the final possession. UTC went up 68-66 with seven seconds left on a Bell free throw. Lawrence got the ball to the basket and made a layup with a second to spare to send the game into overtime.

The Mocs scored on their first two possessions to take a 72-68 lead on layups by Bell and Early. But this would be the only two scores of the period for UTC. Stitt hit a jumper and Matt Sundberg two free throws with 2:06 to go tying it at 72-all. Neither team managed a score the rest of the way.

After a missed three-pointer by Bell, Chattanooga forced a shot clock violation with three seconds to play to get the ball back. Another desperation heave was off and the two teams treated the fans to another five minutes.

Ricky Taylor (Brownsville, Tenn.) came alive in the second overtime. He scored six points in the first 45 minutes, but tossed in 11 in the final five. His second three-pointer of the period brought the Mocs to within one, 83-82, with 45 seconds to go. It came just eight seconds after Jordan Scott's three put the Cougars up four driving the fans into a frenzy before being silenced by Taylor's triple.

Free throws by Stitt (one) and Wiggins (two) made it a four-point margin CofC's way before Taylor's third three again drew Chattanooga within one, 86-85, with just less than three seconds to go with Stitt going back to the line. He made one and Bell's mid-court shot just missed giving the Cougars the 87-85 triumph.

Bell had a phenomenal all-around game with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double. Nine of his 10 boards came on the defensive end. Taylor had 17 points, while Hampton and White added 12 and 11 points, respectively off the bench. The duo's 23 out-scored the Cougars' reserves by one.

Lawrence (25) and Stitt (20) combined for 45 points. Lawrence carried the Cougars in the second half with 17 points between intermission and overtime. Wiggins had 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Trent Wideman added 15 points and 12 boards of his own.

It was a defensive start to the game as the Mocs limited CofC to just 23.3 percent shooting in the opening frame. UTC took a 26-21 lead at the break due to 31.3 percent shooting itself, although it appeared half of the 22 Mocs misses rattled in-and-out of the basket.

For the game, Chattanooga limited a strong shooting Charleston squad to just 38.2 percent from the floor including a 27.9 percent performance beyond the arc. The Mocs defense forced the Cougars to heft 43 three-pointers, making 12, while getting just 25 looks inside the arc (14 made).

By contrast, a majority of UTC's looks came inside the arc, but the Mocs were hot outside it taking advantage of what the defense gave. Chattanooga made a season-high 14 treys in 17 less attempts (26) shooting 53.8 percent on three-pointers. In the second half, UTC shot 70 percent (14-20) from the field including six of eight from three (75.0%).

The Mocs are off until next Saturday when it travels to Macon, Ga., for a meeting with Mercer. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. Follow @GoMocs on twitter for stats and notes in game and go to GoMocs.com for links to live audio and stats as well as post-game information.