2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Southern Conference Championship
Game 34 – Furman
March 7 – Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville, N.C.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The Chattanooga Mocs captured an exciting 64-63 overtime win over Furman in the title tilt of the Southern Conference Championships Monday night…Mocs are now 27-7, while the Paladins move to 22-12.
- The win came on a buzzer-beater 3pt by 6th-year senior David Jean-Baptiste…last buzzer-beater in the SoCon Tournament was a heart-breaker in the Scenic City as David Schuck banked in a three to give UNCG a 67-66 OT win.
- 4-4 in OT in the tournament, 1-1 in the finals.
- Last overtime SoCon Championship game? Davidson 93-91 over Western Carolina in double OT in 2012.
- Despite sharing a league for the last 45 seasons, this is the first time the Mocs and Paladins met for the tourney finals…94th all-time meeting, 10th in the tournament…more on the series below.
- Record-tying 12th SoCon Tourney Crown for Chattanooga…matches Davidson which took 74 years to reach that number compared to 45 for the Mocs.
- 60th SoCon Tournament triumph…one of two schools – Davidson (64) – with 60 or more in the event…60-33, 12-8 in the finals.
- Swept all three games this season from the Paladins…won 71-69 (1/15) in Chattanooga and 64-58 in Greenville (2/13).
- 4th time with 27 or more wins in a season...last was school-record 29 by the 2016 SoCon Champions...topped 27 in 1976-77 (27-5), 1981-82 (27-4) & 2015-16 (29-6).
- 16 first half points are the fewest in 2021-22...prior low was 20 in the win at Furman on Feb. 12.
- Comeback from 10-point halftime deficit (16-26) is largest since Nov. 2019's return from 12 down (27-39) at Troy...largest in a postseason game at the DI level...all-time record is 15 on March 4, 1938 coming back to beat Rhodes 48-47 after being down 32-17 in the Dixie Conference Quarterfinals.
- Furman went 5-5 FG, 1-1 3pt & 1-1 FT for their 12 OT points but had one empty possession with a turnover…Mocs were 4-5 FG (80%), 3-4 3pt (75%) and 2-2 FT for 13 OT points.
- Paladins were +9 in points off turnover with 15 points on just 11 Mocs miscues, while Chattanooga scored six on Furman's 10 TOs.
- +8 (38-30) rebound margin…led to 16-0 advantage in second chance points allowing just five on Furman's offensive glass.
- 16-2 when scoring 75 or more points…11-5 when scoring less…22-1 when opponents score less than 70.
- No. 61 in the latest NCAA NET Rankings…Paladins were No. 80 at tipoff.
- No. 61 on ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI)…Furman was No. 88.
- No. 69 on KenPom with the Paladins coming in at 74.
- 1,385-1,114 in season No. 103…45th campaign as a DI program with an 839-545 ledger.
- 4-0 all-time in Game 34…last 34th matchup was the 2016 Championship win over ETSU in 2016…the other two wins captured the 2009 Title over College of Charleston (80-69) and the March 16, 1997 win over No. 19 Illinois (75-63) to advance to the Sweet 16.
- 10-1 all-time on March 7…8-1 at neutral sites…last was the 2016 SoCon Championship win over ETSU…lone loss was to Furman in the 2015 SoCon Quarterfinals.
 
SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 94 | Record: 57-37 | Home: 31-11 | Away: 19-25 | Neutral: 7-1

• 6-4 all-time in the SoCon Tournament…first was the 57-30 beatdown by the 1922 Mocs.
• 57 wins rank behind The Citadel (71), Western Carolina (69) and Samford (67) on the Mocs all-time list.
• 10-10 in last 20 meetings.

 
COACH
Lamont Paris (College of Wooster '96)
Record: 87-71

• Home: 47-23 | Away: 33-42 | Neutral: 7-6
• SoCon Tournament: 5-4 | Finals: 1-0
• vs. Furman: 3-7 | Home: 1-4 | Away: 1-3 | Neutral: 1-0

 
INDIVIDUAL
- Incredible performance from Silvio De Sousa…17 points and 14 rebounds…6th double-double…tied career high for rebounds (The Citadel-Jan. 8)…7-10 shooting and 3-5 at free throw line…team high +9 in a career-high 30:51 of playing time.
- De Sousa's double-double is the first in a SoCon Championship game by a Moc since Pat Hernderson's 10 & 12 in the 63-61 win over Western Carolina in 1995.
- De Sousa's 14 rebounds ties Keith Nelson '92 for the most by a Mocs in a title game…Nelson's came in a 74-62 loss to ETSU on March 8, 1992.
- 13 points for David Jean-Baptiste…first career buzzer-beater…still fourth all-time in scoring at UTC with 1,746 points…third-place is the incomparable Willie White '84 who is the DI era scoring leader with 1,969 points.
- DJB continues to build on his 3pt record at Chattanooga with 288…12 shy of becoming 8th SoCon student-athlete with 300 made in a career.
- The last buzzer-beater for the Mocs before DJB's heroics tonight? Ronrico White '15 on Feb. 28, 2015 at UNCG for a 61-58 win.
- Malachi Smith added 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals….31st double-figure game this season, 61st career.
- 688 points this season for Smith is second in Mocs history and most in the DI era…12 points shy of William "Go-Go" Gordon's '77 school-record 700 tallied in the 1977 NCAA Division II Championship run…there are seven 600-point campaigns all-time with Smith joining Gordon (700, 1976-77), Gerald Wilkins (672, 1984-85), Wayne Golden (657, 1976-77), Golden again (635, 1974-75), Stephen McDowell (633, 2008-09) and Chad Copeland (604, 1993-94).
- Smith topped 1,100 points reaching 1,103…needs 10 to make into the top 25 sitting in 26th behind Derrick Kirce '91 (1,113)…he's 38 shy of No. 20 Alphonso Pugh '06 (1,141).
- 10 points shy of Kirce's DI era record for points in first two years of his career (1,113)…Wayne Golden '77 holds the all-time record with 1,142 in 54 games over the 1974 and '75 campaigns.