STATS |
NOTES |
QUOTES |
PHOTOS |
ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
CHATTANOOGA---The old saying "it's not how you start but how you finish" is alive and well in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Chattanooga Mocs came back from a 12-point deficit to send the game into overtime defeating Western Carolina 89-81 in McKenzie Arena.
That all happened in the final 3:23 when the Mocs hopes looked dire. In the end, they moved with one game of first place in the Southern Conference standings.
Momentum looked to be firmly in the Mocs favor midway through the second half taking a 63-61 lead on an
A.J. Caldwell three. Western Carolina responded with a 10-0 run and built what seemed to be an insurmountable lead of 75-63 with 4:09 to play.
It was all Mocs from there. Stefan Kenić started it with a three, one of seven in the contest for him scoring a career-high 29 points.
David Jean-Baptiste added a step-back jumper just beyond the foul line before two
Malachi Smith free throws closed the gap to 75-70 with 1:45 left. Defensively, a pressing attack to speed up possessions led to a couple of turnovers to flip the switch.
A missed three by Matt Halvorsen, what seemed like an unusual occurrence on the night as he drilled five total, led to a
David Jean-Baptiste triple and a two-point game with 1:09 on the clock. Another defensive stop led to a strong Smith drive and tie score as a lot of time remained, 17.0 seconds.
The Catamounts called timeout with 8.9 remaining. The ball got inside to Xavier Cork.
KC Hankton blocked and rebounded the miss to send the game into overtime.
"[Pressing] was the catalyst, but I think it was once they saw a result," Coach
Lamont Paris shared. "And then another result, and another result and then the team that goes into overtime with momentum on their side is the team that just has some sort of slight advantage when you go to that final five minutes. I felt really good once it got into overtime."
Western jumped out to an 81-77 advantage with 2:38 left after Cory Hightower floater and two Halvorsen free tosses. It was all Mocs from there. Back-to-back threes from Kenić and Hankton gave the good guys the start of a 12-0 spurt to the finish scoring on the final five possessions.
Kenić's career-high 29 was supported by Smith's line of 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals. Jena-Baptiste and
Darius Banks both scored 12. Hankton collected 12 board. Hightower's 19 paced Western with Halvorsen adding 17. Cork tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds.
"It's amazing," Kenić explained. "We were down 12 with 3:33 to go, and the energy we showed at the end of the game and the energy the fans gave us was important in the determination to get some stops and go on a 12-0 run. I'm so proud of these guys. Basketball is a 40-minute game, you better play all 40 until it's over.
"That's what we did tonight and I'm proud of that."
The Mocs head back to the road for games Saturday at UNC Greensboro and next Wednesday at Mercer. Games air on ESPN+ or 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 18-5/9-5 | Western Carolina 9-13/2-11
TICKETS
Tickets for the regular season finale on Saturday, Feb. 27, against VMI are available and
can be purchased here or by calling (423) 266-MOCS (6627). Limited supply with 1,000 capacity in the Roundhouse. Student tickets are free (as always) but
reservation is required here. All tickets are general admission this season with social distancing required between seat blocks.
The game is a BLUE OUT both in the arena and virtually.
Join the virtual here or wear blue to the game if you're one of the lucky 1,000 in the arena.
QUOTABLE
"I was told a long time ago in my career that there are going to be five games every season that you can't recognize your team. And for a lot of this game, this one of those. The guys just have got to play with more urgency early on. But [Western Carolina] played well. Without [Mason] Faulkner here, somebody is on that bench, and they've been waiting to show what they can do. And they did. I can't say enough about the fight and the change in urgency because our basketball life was on the line at some point. Super proud of the guys, and I'm happy for them." –
Lamont Paris
"It's an amazing opportunity. It's going to be a really hard game. They're a very strong team. We struggled last time to get a defensive rebound, they had 20 second chance points. That's why we lost that game, even though we played well, it just wasn't enough. It's going to be a fight. We have to box out every time, rebound every time, and then we have a chance." –
Stefan Kenić on Saturday's matchup at UNCG
"We've been up 12 or 14 and seen teams come back and beat us. The first thing we said in the huddle was that we've been here before. We don't like being in that position, but we've been in that position before and we know what it takes. It builds confidence for us in case it comes again down the road." –
Malachi Smith
Check out all we heard at the link above.
3 NOTES TO KNOW
- First 6-game winning streak in Southern Conference play since a 9-game run Jan. 11-Feb. 8, 2016.
- 14-4 in single-digit margin games, 8-0 when decided by three or less. WCU is 4-2 in margins within three points. Western was 4-0 in overtime games before tonight's loss.
- The Mocs trailed by 12, 75-63, with 3:24 to play. It is the largest comeback in the shortest amount of time on record. Out scored Western 26-6 over the final 8:23.
Check out all the notables at the link above.
3 STATS TO KNOW
- Stefan Kenić's 7-7 performance from 3pt range broke the school record set by Gary Robb at Alaska-Anchorage (11/27/1992) and later matched by Brandon Born here against Southern Miss (1/2/1994). Kenić is the third Moc this season (Malachi Smith at Tennessee State & David Jean-Baptiste at VMI) to record 29 points.
- The Catamounts scored 75 points over the first 35:51 but just six over the final 9:09. A difference of 2.1 points per minute and 0.7 ppm.
- +5 in TO margin (8/13) with a 15-9 points off turnover advantage.
Take a deeper dive into the numbers at the link above.
SERIES
Meetings: 97th
Record: 68-29 (38-6 home)
SoCon Regular Season: 55-26 (35-6 home)
SOCON SCOREBOARD
Mercer 71, at ETSU 64
at Furman 78, Samford 64
at VMI 88, UNCG 77
at Wofford 81, The Citadel 67
NEXT 3 OPPONENTS
Feb. 20: at UNC Greensboro, 5 p.m. | Current Record: 15-7/10-4 | Next Opp:
Chattanooga (Feb. 20)
Feb. 24: at Mercer, 7 p.m. | Current Record: 13-8/6-7 | Next Opp: Furman (Feb. 20)
Feb. 27: VMI, 7 p.m. | Current Record: 12-10/7-6 | Next Opp.: at The Citadel (Feb. 20)
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