(Photo Credit: Dale Rutemeyer/GoMocs.com) Greg Pryor continued his strong play leading the Mocs with 18 points, three rebounds and three steals

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---Greg Pryor's 18 points led four Chattanooga Mocs in double digits in an 83-67 win over UAB Monday night in McKenzie Arena. The Mocs, now 7-6 on the season, led from start to finish to drop the Blazers to 4-8.

Pryor added three rebounds and three steals to his total. Justin Tuoyo had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Casey Jones chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Ronrico White tallied 13 points, six rebounds and a game-high four assists.

“I though Greg Pryor was just a warrior,” coach Will Wade said. “He was awesome. We got some contributions from some other guys too. Marty (Bareika) was good offensively. Tre' McLean hurt his shoulder early on. He came back in and gave us two big stops. I thought everyone we brought in gave us good minutes.”

Robert Brown paced UAB with 19 points. Hakeem Baxter had 15 points off the bench, as Nick Norton scored 12 to go with four rebounds and three assists.

The Mocs took its biggest lead of 26 points, 54-28, early in the second half on two Martynas Bareika free throws. UAB slowly chipped away cutting it to 16 with 9:11 to go on two C.J. Washington free throws. An Eric Robertson dunk and two Pryor free tosses extended it back to 20, 65-45, with 8:22 to go.

UAB answered quickly with an 11-0 run to slice the lead to nine. Brown got it started with a jumper at 8:07. Norton ended it with a three-point play with 6:31 remaining and the Mocs clinging to a 65-56 advantage.

If they were rattled, it didn't show. Pryor rallied the troops. He drew fouls on consecutive possessions to get the lead back to 13, 69-56. Five trips later he drew the defense to him on a drive and made a gorgeous feed to Tuoyo for a slam. Next time down his three-pointer at 3:05 got it back to 17, 75-58. The Mocs cruised from there.

“When they made that run, I got my team together and told them we are going to take it possession-by-possession,” Pryor added. “No stupid mistakes, just take it possession-by-possession, get good baskets and stops on defense.”

It was a physically strong defensive effort from the home team. Chattanooga limited its visitors to just 36.7 percent shooting (22-60), 31.6 percent (6-19) from beyond the arc. The Blazers were opportunistic scoring 25 points off 13 UTC turnovers.

Conversely, the Mocs shot 45.6 percent (26-57) from the field, 37.5 percent (6-16) from 3pt range. There were 60 free throws in the game with Chattanooga making 25 off 33 (75.8%).

UTC broke open a close game at the mid-point of the first half. Leading 21-16 with 11:04 to go until intermission, Chattanooga raced out to a 15-point lead, 31-16. Pryor's layup at 7:51 capped the 10-0 spurt.

It was a 13-point contest, 38-25, as late as 3:51 in the first half when Pryor keyed another run. He scored six in an 8-0 ending to the frame sending Chattanooga into the break leading 46-25.

“I thought Rico really got us off to a good start,” Wade noted. “He drained those shots and got us off to a good start. We were attacking the basket and really getting some good looks. Anytime you score 46 in a half against a division I team is pretty good.”

Tonight is the start of five straight at home for the Mocs. Next up is Lipscomb for a 7 p.m., tip against Lipscomb. Gameday links to video (SoCon Digital Network), audio (Mocs Sports Network) and live stats are available on GoMocs.com. Follow @GoMocsMBB on Twitter for live updates.

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