STATS | NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS | ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
 
MACON---The Chattanooga Mocs struggles on the defensive glass led to a 74-69 loss at Mercer Saturday afternoon. The loss kept Chattanooga from clinching a top six spot in the Southern Conference standing which earns a bye into the quarterfinals of the league tourney in two weeks.
 
Mercer's Ross Cummings led all scorers with a career-best 37 points, exactly half of his squad's total output. Jerry Johnson, Jr., led the Mocs with 17, while David Jean-Baptiste added 15.
 
The Mocs were in great shape at the end of the first half. A.J. Caldwell's three with 11 seconds until the break put his guys up 14, 42-28. The Bears moved into the front court. Jaylen Stowe scored through Jonathan Scott's foul with four seconds to go. His and-1 rimmed out, but the ball bounced out of bounds, Bears ball. Ethan Stair drilled a corner 2-point jumper to close to within 10, 42-32.
 
The Bears clawed back within a point a few times throughout the second frame, but the Mocs had an answer. Jean-Baptiste's triple with 6:02 to play made it a four-point game, 59-55. The answers ended at that point.
 
A 16-2 Mercer run was capped by Stair's two free throws with 28 seconds remaining. It was a 10-point game at that point, 71-61. Johnson's three-point play and late layup book-ended Jean-Baptiste's third three, but it was not enough to get back to good.
 
"The same things that won us the game at The Citadel are the same things that loss us the game here," Jean-Baptiste shared. "The stops, the boxing out….they had 18 second-chance points, and I feel like that killed us. 
 
"Not getting stops at the end of the game and not getting those rebounds that we needed."
 
The Mocs return to the Roundhouse this week to close out the regular season. Wofford visits Thursday night at 7 p.m., before Saturday Senior Day matinee against Furman, a 2 p.m., start. Tickets are on sale at the link above or by calling (423) 266-MOCS (6627).
 
RECORDS
Chattanooga 12-17/7-9 | Mercer 11-18/6-10
 
3 NOTES TO KNOW
Check out the full complement of notes at the link above.

• Chattanooga is currently fifth in the SoCon at 7-9 which is one game ahead of Samford and Mercer which are tied for sixth at 6-10…top six in the final standings earn byes into the quarterfinal round of the Ingles Southern Conference Championships presented by General Shale.
• The Mocs are among the nation's leaders in nail-biters…9th game with a final margin of five points or less…5-4 in those contests.
• Games went down to the wire in each of the last five visits to Macon…Chattanooga is 2-3 with three of the five ending in overtime. The cumulative tally: 358-354 in favor of the Bears.

 
3 STATS TO KNOW
Check out the full stats at the link above.

• -16 on the glass with Mercer grabbing 41 to Chattanooga's 25…the Bears turned 14 offensive rebounds into 18 second chance points…+12 in second chance points in a five-point game.
• Drastic shooting difference between halves…made 58.6 percent (17-29) in the opening 20 minutes, 61.5 percent (8-13) from 3pt range…that turned south into 34.6 percent (9-26) overall, 15.4 percent (2-13) from long range.
• The Bears Ross Cummings' 37 points was just two shy of the Hawkins Arena record of 39 set by James Florence (Mercer).

 
QUOTABLE
Check out all of what we heard at the quotes link above.
"He made some tough shots. Some shots that your coach would never say, that was a good look. Probably made four of those. Then he had some other ones. He probably made four other ones that we made too easy on him. Then the rest of them were probably the general, run-of-the-mill basketball plays that are going to happen. He is a good player, there is no question. He scored 37 points like that for a reason." – Coach Lamont Paris on Cummings' night.
 
"That was my first college dunk. We did get the loss, but that was definitely a big experience for me. I was telling (Assistant Coach Aaron) Fuss before the game that I needed to get one. I caught it, turned and there was no one in front of me. I saw the big man and thought, here is your chance. You have to take this one while you can get it.  It happened and I was pumped. My team loved it, and I tried to give us an energy boost." – Keigan Kerby on his first collegiate dunk, a SportsCenter Top 10 candidate.
 
SOCON SCOREBOARD
at The Citadel 87, Samford 83 (OT)
Wofford 72, at Furman 64
VMI at Western Carolina, 7:30 p.m. (late)
ETSU at UNCG, 3 p.m. (Sunday)
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Feb. 28 vs. Wofford, 7 p.m.
March 2 vs. Furman, 2 p.m. (Senior Day)
March 8-11 at Ingles Southern Conference Championships Presented by General Shale
 
SOCON TOURNAMENT TICKETS
The Ingles Southern Conference Championships Presented by General Shale is March 8-11 in Asheville, N.C. Tickets are available here on GoMocs.com as well as the Gate 1 Ticket Office at McKenzie Arena. Chattanooga Tournament Headquarters is at the Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park.
 
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
Duane Moss – Dwight
Ramon Vila – Everyman  
 
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