STATS |
NOTES |
QUOTES |
PHOTOS |
ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
CHATTANOOGA---For 18 minutes, it looked like a long night in the Roundhouse for the Chattanooga Mocs. Stefan Kenić scored a career-high 27 points to lead his squad to an 83-80 triumph over Mercer after trailing the Bears by 19 with 2:25 left in the first half. That ties the largest comeback in school history.
"I feel like if nothing else, these guys really believe in their ability to stay the course and keep chopping wood," Coach
Lamont Paris smiled after the game. "That's first and foremost based on their ability to score points. They will never lose confidence that they'll be able to make something happen if we put some stops together. Most teams have 15, 16 guys at their disposable, and I think it says a lot about our group playing with this few. We have guys playing different positions, guys playing more minutes probably than what they are ready to play on a consistent basis.
"They're a stubborn group in the best way. They're a coachable group. It was a really resilient effort tonight."
It started with frigid shooting for the home and inspired play from a Mercer squad taking the court for the first time in 11 days. Ross Cummings' three made it a 40-21 advantage and seemingly out of reach to everyone but the Mocs bench.
Malachi Smith jump-started a 10-0 run to the break with a three.
He added two free throws before the key play(s) occurred.
David Jean-Baptiste followed a defensive stop with a floater in the lane with 34 seconds left in the half.
A.J. Caldwell made a sneaky steal and quick layup off the inbounds pass cutting the lead to 10 before the Mocs went into halftime down nine, 40-31.
Chattanooga kept coming with a Kenić and Jean-Baptiste triples. The lead was sliced to one, 42-41, at 16:51 when Mercer clawed back. Eight straight capped by Cummings' sixth three steadied the Bears at 50-41. The combatants traded baskets for a 52-43 deficit when lightning struck again.
The Mocs scored seven straight times in the paint with
Jamaal Walker's strong take at 10:09 putting the bow on a 14-2 spurt. Walker's short jumper followed Smith's similar score which gave the Mocs the lead for good just 35 seconds earlier.
The advantage swelled to eight three times, but the Bears would not go away. It was a six-point lead headed into the final 20 seconds on a Jean-Baptiste steal at midcourt and reverse layup. Neftali Alvarez responded quickly with a layup with 14.8 remaining.
A turnover and foul on three-point shooter Felipe Haase saw the lead dwindle to one, 81-80, when the big Chilean drained all three free throws. A quick inbounds to Kenić who kept the ball moving to
Darius Banks bled nearly four seconds. Banks hit two free throws for the 83-80 lead. Cummings got a look from three but was off the mark. An offensive rebound and heave at the buzzer by Leon Ayers was awry as well.
Kenić led all scorers with his 27. Jean-Baptiste added 20 with 14 from Smith and another 10 by Banks in his debut. Cummings totaled 22 with Haase adding 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
"I think it's an amazing win because we were down 19 and to be able to come back and win, it means you didn't give up," Kenić added. "That's exactly what happened. We looked at the score and said to keep playing. We went to the locker room and had a talk with the coaches, and we came out and showed what we can do. That's why I'm always proud of these guys. We never give up, and we won the game."
The previous 19-point comeback was on the road at Mississippi State on Dec. 17, 1985. Down, 23-4 with seven minutes to go...yep just four points in 13 minutes...the Mocs closed the half on a 15-2 run to make it manageable at the break. 25-19. Manage they did. Darryl Ivery's free throws with 1:15 provided the final, 48-47, as Chattanooga played shutdown defense for the win.
Chattanooga stays on the home court this weekend. Wofford visits Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m., matchup on ESPN+ and over the airwaves in Chattanooga via WFLI 97.7 FM and 1070 AM. Links for video, audio and live stats for each contest is located on the men's basketball schedule page.
RECORDS
Chattanooga 11-3/2-3 | Mercer 7-4/0-3
QUOTABLE
"It's an important thing. They're a physical, aggressive team defensively. We attacked, and I thought that was one thing we did well in particular late in the game. It put them in position to foul us and as those numbers built up, we got to the line and knocked them down. We needed every single of them." –
Paris on free throw shooting
"It's being with the guys, practicing with them, working with them, and just being there for them and knowing I should be out there battling with them. I know they needed some help at the guard and big man situation, and with my skill set I can do both. I felt like I needed to be out there." –
Banks on decision to suit up
"It was hard to play almost the whole game against 12 strong guys trying to post up all the time. I had to fight with them, wrestle with them on the post to not let them receive the ball in the post. I had to defend a lot of ball screens. It was tough to guard the two big men that they have." –
Kenić on difficult defensive assignment
Check out all we heard at the link above.
3 NOTES TO KNOW
- Darius Banks made the decision to join the team in advance of tonight's game. The former 1,000-pt scorer at James Madison transferred over the summer but had planned to sit out the campaign to work on player development. He scored 10 points in his debut.
- Stefan Kenić topped the 1,000-point mark tonight on a slick drive early in the second half. He now has 1,010 including 617 at Cleveland State University in Ohio over his first two collegiate seasons.
- It was the Mocs ninth win this season when trailing at some point in the second half. The 17-0 run ending the first and starting the second half (3:39 of clock time) is the longest scoreless run of the season topping 14-0 to run past Tennessee Tech in Cookeville in November.
Check out all the notables at the link above.
3 STATS TO KNOW
- The Mocs made just four of their first 26 shot attempts (15.4%). Finished 24-33 (72.7%) after that frigid beginning.
- +12 at the FT line shooting 20 of 22 (90.9%). That raises the percentage to 87.5 percent (63-72) in five SoCon games, 92.3 percent (37-40) over the last two.
- Second straight game allowing an opponent double digits on 3pt made with 10 tonight. The Bears made six of 12 in building their 19-point advantage and just 4-20 (20%) the rest of the way.
Take a deeper dive into the numbers at the link above.
SERIES
81st meeting | Record: 41-40 | Home: 23-13 | Away: 15-26 | Neutral: 3-1 | SoCon Regular Season: 7-6
- 81 all-time meetings rank 6th all-time behind Samford (104), Western Carolina (95), ETSU (91), Furman (91) and The Citadel (86).
- Just the 13th time the two have met in the Southern Conference with Mercer entering the league in 2014-15.
- How old is the series? The first meeting was Feb. 12, 1921. The Mocs-Bears 1-1 record in SoCon Tournament play were in the 1922 and 1923 events. The two have not met in "modern times" in the league tourney.
SOCON SCOREBOARD
Furman 94, at The Citadel 88
Wofford 80, at VMI 78
NEXT 3 OPPONENTS
Jan. 16: Wofford, 2 p.m. | Current Record: 7-4/4-1 | Next Up:
at Chattanooga (Jan. 16)
Jan. 20: at Samford, 8 p.m. | Current Record: 5-5/1-2 | Next Up: UNCG (Jan. 14)
Jan. 23: UNC Greensboro, Noon | Current Record: 6-5/1-2 | Next Opp: at Samford (Jan. 14)
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