STATS | NOTES | QUOTES | ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
 
LEXINGTON, Va.---The Chattanooga Mocs out-lasted the host VMI Keydets in a 71-70 thriller in Cameron Hall Thursday night. It came down to the final possession as neither team provided quarter to the other.
 
Thomas Smallwood led the Mocs with 16 points off the bench making all four of his 3pt attempts. Donovann Toatley, David Jean-Baptiste and Ramon Vila all tallied 11 in support. VMI's Bubba Parham led all scorers with 21.
 
Smallwood's three at 4:25 gave his squad a two-point advantage, 70-68, with 4:25 to play. Toatley added a free throw at 3:02 for a three-point cushion, 71-68. The defense made six straight stops, but they could not take advantage on the offensive end.
 
The Keydets triple-teamed Jonathan Scott in the frontcourt leading to a Myles Lewis steal. He tossed it ahead to Garrett Gilkeson for a layup to cut the Mocs lead to one, 71-70, with 14 seconds to go. Kevin Easley worked the ball to halfcourt before he was fouled with 10 ticks remaining.
 
Easley stepped to the line for the one-and-a-bonus. His first effort looked true but rolled out. VMI got the ball into the offensive zone. Jake Stephens got a look from three, but the big man's shot was off the mark as Easley gathered the ball as the buzzer sounded.
 
"I thought we did a good job of getting stops when we needed to," Coach Lamont Paris said. "Once we got back and took the lead, which we did a good job to get to that point, but once we got down to those crunch-time situations, we did not do a good job on offense. We turned the ball over multiple times. We traveled. We turned it over in a dead-ball situation. We were at the rim and didn't get fouled.
 
"We had to make stronger moves."
 
It was two totally different halves. The Mocs led at halftime 45-41. The Keydets captured the second 29-26. It was a quick start to the second 20 for the home team.
 
Sarju Patel's layup at 15:01 capped a 17-6 spurt in the opening five minutes of the frame. Smallwood answered with two free throws before a Jean-Baptiste three cut the margin to two, 58-56. Vila added two free throws to get the lead back for the Mocs, 60-59, at 9:21. The two sides traded blows the rest of the way before Smallwood's three put the Gig City guys up for good.
 
Chattanooga remains in fifth-place in the league at 6-6, while the Keydets stay in 10th with a 1-10 mark. Wofford (12-0) is in first ahead of UNCG (10-1), ETSU (9-3) and Furman (8-4) in fourth. Samford (4-8) is sixth followed by Mercer (3-8), Western Carolina (3-9), The Citadel (2-9) and VMI (1-9).
 
The Mocs return to the Scenic City overnight to prepare for a Saturday tilt in the Roundhouse against UNCG. Game time is 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear black to Blackout McKenzie Arena. It's also Reunion Weekend welcoming home legends from all eras of Mocs basketball. Tickets are available on GoMocs.com or by calling (423) 266-MOCS (6627).
 
RECORDS
Chattanooga 11-14/6-6 | VMI 7-16/1-10
 
3 NOTES TO KNOW
Check out the full complement of notes at the link above.

• 1st regular season sweep of a SoCon opponent since Western Carolina & Wofford in 2016-17. The last time the program took both games from the Keydets was 2015-16.
• 60 days between meetings with the Keydets (Dec. 9). Second-longest stretch is 42 between the Dec. 29 matchup at UNCG and this Saturday's Blackout Contest in the Roundhouse.
• Made 40 percent of 3pt attempts tonight hitting 12 of 30…4th straight game with double-digit treys…13th time with 10 or more…also 13th contest making 40 percent or better beyond the arc...entered tonight ranked in the top 50 nationally in both 3pt percentage (41, 37.5%) and 3pt made per game (49, 9.2).

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

• Tale of two halves with 86 combined points in the opening 20 and 55 in the second.
• 22 combined offensive rebounds tonight but just eight second-chance points…6-2 advantage in the stat for the Mocs…13 on the offensive glass ties for most against a DI opponent (at Georgia State) this year.
• Thomas Smallwood (+16) and Donovann Toatley (+13) had significant impact tonight with double-digit plus/minus totals in a one-point game.

 
QUOTABLE
Check out all of what we heard at the quotes link above.
"We made enough plays. Thomas [Smallwood] made a big three in the corner in front of the bench. That was a big one. We only scored 25 in the second half. What a difference in halves from an offensive standpoint. I thought they did a great job of adjusting to some of the stuff we were doing in the first half." – Coach Lamont Paris on making enough plays to win.
 
"A road win is a road win. No matter how you get it, the most important part is to get it. After that, the coaches will dissect it a little bit and see what went well and what went wrong. We'll grow from it, but the most important thing is that we got the win." – Graduate student center Thomas Smallwood.
 
SOCON SCOREBOARD
Wofford 78, at ETSU 76 (OT)
Furman 64, at Western Carolina 45
at UNCG 75, Samford 67
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Feb. 9 vs. UNCG, 7 p.m. (Reunion Weekend)
Feb. 16 at Samford, 5 p.m.
Feb. 21 at The Citadel, 7 p.m.
 
SOCON TOURNAMENT TICKETS
The Ingles Southern Conference Tournament 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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