NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

CHATTANOOGA – After a two-point separation, the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team went scoreless for the game's final 5:48 as the squad dropped a 78-62 decision to in-state rival and Southern Conference foe ETSU on Saturday afternoon in McKenzie Arena.

Following the loss, Chattanooga has now lost three-straight and falls to 11-10 overall and 3-5 inside SoCon play. ETSU improves to 8-13 on the season and evens its league record to 4-4.

The Mocs, who were without big man standout Jake Stephens due to injury, started the game off strong and took a 42-33 lead at the halftime break. It was a tale of two halves as UTC went ice cold in the second half, shooting just 22.9% (8-of-35) from the floor including a 13.6% (3-of-22) mark from deep.

"We missed shots, and it allowed it to affect our defense and they got the confidence going," said head coach Dan Earl.
 
"It was certainly and particularly a tough and very difficult second half. We'll stick together and figure out how to get better."
 
11 different Mocs saw floor time during the loss as Dalvin White led the team in scoring with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Demetrius Davis added nine boards and six rebounds while Randy Brady posted eight points and a team-best seven rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga and ETSU traded points in the early stages as the two teams played to a 14-14 tie at the first media timeout with 14:23 on the board. After White connected on his second three of the half, UTC grabbed a 23-21 lead with 10:53 remaining in the first.
 
The Mocs continued to hold a slight edge, 29-26 (7:06), before putting together a slight run to extend out to a 37-30 (3:39) lead which forced an ETSU timeout. Chattanooga went into the break with a 42-33 lead after shooting an even 50.0% (17-of-34) from the floor over the first 20 minutes.
 
ETSU came out of the halftime break with a quick 10-2 run to cut the deficit to two, 45-43 (15:58), and force the hosts into a timeout. Randy Brady knocked down a triple at the top of the key to break a 49-49 tie before ETSU answered with four-straight points to take a 53-52 (11:36) lead.
 
The run for the Bucs continued and capped out at 11-0 before a KC Hankton putback stopped the bleeding and allowed for a 60-54 tally with 7:23 left in the contest. The Mocs cut the deficit to two, 64-62 (5:48), before going scoreless to end the game which resulted in a 78-62 pull-away win for ETSU.

RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 11-10, 3-5 SoCon · ETSU 8-13, 4-4 SoCon · Series: Chattanooga now leads the series 51-46.

NOTES TO KNOW
- Chattanooga finished the game's final 5:48 scoreless… went 0-of-11 from the field during that span… trailed 64-62 before the eventual 78-62 final.

- Over the last three games, Chattanooga has went a combined 2-of-27 (7.4%) during the game's final 6:14 (on average)… 1-of-8 at Samford in last 7:34… 1-of-8 against Furman in last 5:22.

- UTC has gone just 17-of-67 (25.4%) from three the last two games… first time making less than 10 threes in back-to-back games since the first two games of the season (at Charleston, Oakland City)… first time this season against a DI opponent.

QUOTES
Dan Earl on sticking together.
"We have to do that. There's no other way then to have them recognize that feeling they have right now for them to play with more focus, passion, effort, the way we did in the first half. We can't keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results. We have stick together and push the ball, play fast, and have more defensive intent for all 40 minutes."

NEXT UP – vs. Wofford – Wednesday, Jan. 25 – 7:00 p.m. ET – McKenzie Arena – ESPN+ – BUY TICKETS

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