QUOTES | NOTES

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (January 5) --- The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team battled its way to a physical 75-67 Southern Conference road victory at Wofford inside the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night in Spartanburg, S.C.
 
Malachi Smith scored a game-high 24 points while David Jean-Baptiste became the school's all-time career three-point field goal leader behind five threes to help Chattanooga improve to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in the SoCon. Following the loss, Wofford moves to 8-6 overall and 0-2 in the league.
 
"Especially in some of these road games. This league, any league really, it has got so darn competitive and it's unbelievable. It's a good thing, but there's some nights I wish it wasn't always like this," head coach Lamont Paris laughed postgame.
 
"The guys really responded .... I'm happy for them. It's a big-time road win against a good team who expects to win in this building."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga started the game with an 8-0 run out of the gate, seeing a pair of threes knocked down from Malachi Smith which followed a Darius Banks layup just five seconds into the game. After a David Jean-Baptiste three and subsequent layup, the Mocs led 13-5 at the first media timeout at 15:09.
 
UTC continued its quick start after Grant Ledford connected on the team's fourth three in the game's first 10 minutes ahead of a Smith two-point jumper to preserve the lead, 22-15 with 11:04 left in the opening half. Wofford would hold Chattanooga scoreless over the next seven-plus minutes and go on 10-0 run to take the lead 25-22 with 3:55 on the board.
 
After Avery Diggs hit one of two free throws to end the drought, Wofford built a 30-23 lead at the 3:03 mark before a ferocious end to the half from the visitors. UTC ended the opening half on a 9-0 run after creating six turnovers in the final three minutes to take a 32-30 lead into the break on a Banks dunk with eight seconds left.
 
Both teams shot 42.9% (12-of-28) from the field in the opening 20 minutes while the hosts held a slight advantage on the glass at 18-15. Smith (10) and Jean-Baptiste (8) led the scoring in the half and added a combined five assists, four rebounds and three steals.
 
UTC jumped out in the second half with five quick points on the help of a Smith layup and Jean-Baptiste trey and grabbed a 37-30 lead with 18:27 left in the game. Wofford responded with 11 of the game's next 18 points to cut the Chattanooga lead to three, 44-41 at the under 12 media (11:41).
 
Locked in a physical affair, the two teams went back-and-forth with multiple lose balls and tough-nosed rebounds shaping the landscape. Back-to-back Smith three balls allowed UTC to take a 50-44 lead (10:09) before a Wofford layup brought it to 50-46 (7:50) at the under eight.
 
The lead grew to eight, 57-49, after AJ Caldwell nailed his first and only three of the game at the 6:17 mark. After Wofford cut the lead to three, 59-56 (4:18), Chattanooga went on an 8-1 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes to build a 67-58 edge with just under two minutes left in the game (1:40). UTC closed the game out after a Jean-Baptiste three-point dagger made it 70-61 (0:53) ahead of the eventual 75-67 final.
 
Smith led all scorers with 24 points and filled the stat sheet with five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Jean-Baptiste followed with 17 points (6-11 FG, 5-9 3P) while adding four assists. Banks went for 12 points and collected four assists and three rebounds.
 
For the game, the Mocs shot 48.1% (25-for-52) from the field and knocked down 12 threes at a 44.4% (12-of-27) clip. UTC was dominated on the boards, 34-23, and in second chance points, 18-2, but forced 15 Wofford turnovers that turned into 15 points.

RECORDS – Chattanooga (12-3, 2-0 SoCon) – Wofford (8-6, 0-2 SoCon)
 
SERIES – Chattanooga now leads the all-time series 27-20.

NOTES TO KNOW
- David Jean-Baptiste became the Mocs all-time leader in 3pt baskets with 1:14 left to go in the first half… the leading three came off the fast break with a steal by Darius Banks and his back pass on the break to DJB on the right wing… he passes Stephen McDowell '09 who hit 243 over two seasons culminating in the 2009 SoCon Tournament crown and trip to NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia.
 
- Topped .500 mark in Spartanburg (12-11)… one of four places with a winning record on the road in SoCon play (The Citadel 30-13, VMI 19-9 & Western Carolina 23-21).
 
- Malachi Smith extended his road 20pt streak to nine games with a game-high 24… he's topped the 20-points mark in all eight away games this season with the ninth coming in the road finale last February at Mercer.

Check out all the notes at the link above.

QUOTABLE
"If there's not a collision at some point in the game, you're probably doing it wrong because they're not changing what they do. You had to either opt in or opt out. That was one of keys on the board, you had to embrace physicality. You had to do it. If you don't, they're going to fly off those screens and punk you." – head coach Lamont Paris on the physicality of Wofford.
 
"I think we're just a very unselfish time and there's time where we over pass. We pass too much. I think it's just because we're such an unselfish team. We knew they were going to have some runs, so we were prepared for it." – senior Darius Banks on the maturity and unselfishness of the team.

Check out all the quotes at the link above.
 
UP NEXT – Chattanooga vs. The Citadel – Sat., Jan. 8 – 4PM ET – 2021-22 Schedule

SOCON SCOREBOARD
at Mercer 83, Samford 80
Furman 58, at UNCG 54
at ETSU 80, VMI 79
at Western Carolina 94, The Citadel 90 (OT)
 
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