STATS | NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS | TICKETS | ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
 
CHATTANOOGA---The Chattanooga Mocs went down to the proverbial wire against Eastern Kentucky Saturday night in McKenzie Arena. It ended in an 81-78 loss for the Mocs who are now 1-1 on the young season.
 
Trailing 81-78 in the final moments, Kevin Easley, who poured in 22 points including 15 in the second half, launched a triple from the top of the key. It came off and was rebounded by the Colonels sending Lachlan Anderson to the free throw line with just over five seconds remaining.
 
Anderson missed both free throws with Easley grabbing the rebound. Donovann Toatley sped into the frontcourt with the ball. His deep three was off the mark as EKU escaped with the victory.
 
Easley's 22 led the Mocs to go with seven rebounds. Maurice Commander added 16 points and six boards off the bench, while Thomas Smallwood chipped in 12 and Jonathan Scott 10. Nick Mayo paced EKU with 40 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
Chattanooga got off to a good start leading by as many as 13 before Smallwood's layup just before the halftime buzzer sent the squad into the locker room up 45-36. The lead was 11, 59-48, after an Easley three-point play with 11:28 to go.
 
The Colonels roared back with a 17-4 run over the next four minutes. Mayo's triple at 7:26 gave his team its first lead, 65-63. After trading scores, the Mocs made three straight defensive stops to wrestle the lead back to 69-67 on an Easley layup.
 
The score was tied at 73-all at the 2:42 mark on another Easley basket. Mayo scored on consecutive trips before Toatley cut the margin back to two, 77-75, with 1:29 left. Commander cut the lead to one, 79-78, with a huge 3pt in front of his own bench as 25.6 ticks remained, but it was not to be.
 
RECORDS
Chattanooga 1-1 | Eastern Kentucky: 1-1
 
SERIES
Chattanooga trails the all-time series at 1-3…1-2 in McKenzie Arena.
 
3 NOTES TO KNOW
Check out the full complement of notes at the link above.

• Kevin Easley's 22 points are the most by a Mocs freshman since Feb. 23, 2013 when Gee McGhee tallied 24 in the home win over Elon.
• 45 points in the first half is the most since last year's home win over The Citadel which also featured 45. The Mocs are averaging 43.0 points in the first half through two games this season. Averaged just 30.2 in the first half last season against DI opponents.

20 turnovers tonight is the most during Lamont Paris' one-plus year tenure at Chattanooga matching Charlotte and at Samford in 2017-18.
 
3 STATS TO KNOW
Check out the full stats at the link above.

• Chattanooga shot 55.2 percent (16-29) in the first half, 37.5 percent (9-24) in second.
• The Mocs freshmen combined to score 50 of the program's 78 on the night: Easley 22, Maurice Commander 16, Donovann Toatley 9 & Justin Brown 3.
• EKU's Nick Mayo scored 35 of his game-high 40 in the second half.

 
QUOTABLE
Check out all of what we heard at the quotes link above.
"It affected us. We had multiple guys that did not respond to the pressure well. Even some guys who did in the first half, they didn't in the second half. I think we took more advantage of it in the first half. They have five guys in the front court sometimes, that's really aggressive. We just didn't take advantage of it in the second half. We were trying to do too much at times and at other times, we'd one dribble and pick it up. That's what the press does. It snowballed on us, we just had multiple guys that didn't handle the pressure in an effective manner." – Coach Lamont Paris on handling the pressure defense.
 
"They'll be plenty to learn from. I talked to the guys about that. You get on the road and go down and get a good win at Charlotte, looks better after what they did today against Oklahoma State. They have some players and have a good team, you'd like to ride that momentum and walk through a game and not play well, but if you play well enough to get a win, you see that you can handle certain situations. They'll be plenty to learn from for these guys." – Paris on learning from a close loss.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Nov. 13: Cumberland, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 16: at South Alabama, 8:05 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 17 vs. Southeast Missouri, 5:05 p.m.
 
GOMOCS.COM IN A WORD FEATURE SERIES
David Jean-Baptiste – Engaged
Thomas Smallwood – Dad
Rod Johnson – Mayor
Kevin Easley – Goofy
Justin Brown – Waffle
Jerry Johnson, Jr. – Buckets
Jonathan Scott – Energy
Keigan Kerby – Hair
 
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