(Photo Credit: Dale Rutemeyer/GoMocs.com) Eric Robertson scored a career-high 20 points leading the Mocs on a pivotal run to top the Bisons

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---Four minutes. A 40-minute contest, in a lot of ways, came down to a four-minute spurt pushing the Chattanooga Mocs to a 78-60 win over visiting Lipscomb Monday night in McKenzie Arena. Eric Robertson scored 12 of his career-high 20 during a 14-0 Mocs second half run fueling the victory.

“The run really started on the defensive end making sure we made stops,” Robertson said. “That helped us flow into offense and shots were falling.”

Greg Pryor nearly matched “3-Rob” finishing with 19 points, five rebounds and a career-best six assists. Backcourt mate Ronrico White chipped in 13 points and six assists. Malcolm Smith led Lipscomb with 14 points and six rebounds.

Josh Williams' jumper with 11:07 to play got the Bisons to within five, 56-51. The Mocs locked down defensively holding the visitors without a point over the next 3:38. The offensive burst was much shorter.

Robertson got the 14-0 explosion started with a three at 9:49. One minute, 37 seconds later, Chattanooga extended that five-point margin to 19, 70-51, on Robertson's third three-pointer of the stretch. The visitors got no closer than 14 the rest of the way.

While the 13 three-pointers made tied the Mocs' season high, defensively is where the game turned. Turned as in turnovers. The Bisons had a season high of their own with 24 miscues. That's 15 more than the Scenic City lads (9) leading to a 32-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

“Coach (Casey) Long did a great job on the scout,” coach Will Wade noted. “I think we were a little quicker than them, more athletic at a lot of positions. We mixed our defenses up more than we have.”

Another key defensive performance was limiting Lipscomb's three-point looks. The Bisons entered the game averaging 26-plus three-point attempts per game. The Mocs allowed just 17 tonight, six were made.

“That was key,” Wade added. “When you play a good three-point shooting team, they're going shoot their average. The key is to limit their attempts. Our three-point defense has been good this season. Our percentage isn't great, about 35 percent, but we are top 10 in the country in terms of the points teams score against us from the three-point line.”

The turnovers and limited three-pointers were pivotal because the Bisons shot it well. They hit 52.3 percent (23-44) from the field and 35.3 percent (6-17) from 3pt range.

The Mocs broke open a see-saw affair early with an 11-2 run midway through the first half. White drained a three with 7:24 until intermission for a 29-17 advantage. Early foul trouble (2 each) for starters Pryor, White, Casey Jones and Justin Tuoyo opened the door a crack for the Bisons.

They closed the half out-scoring the home team 18-7 to get within one, 36-35, at the break. Smith hit a trey at 17:33 of the final frame to give Lipscomb its largest lead, four points, 42-38. Pryor answered with a three of his own before White gave Chattanooga the lead for good with a jumper at 15:56.

The Mocs improve to 8-6 on the year, finishing the non-conference slate with a 7-6 ledger. That's the first winning non-conference mark since 2009-10. Lipscomb falls to 5-8, 1-7 on the road.

Chattanooga returns to Southern Conference play Saturday welcoming Furman at 7 p.m. It's a busy start to the New Year with Wofford (Jan. 5) and Western Carolina (Jan. 8) quickly after with a trip to East Tennessee State the following Saturday (Jan. 10).

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