NOTES |
QUOTES |
PHOTOS
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Dec. 19, 2023) – Madness in December. Senior transfer guard
Trey Bonham drilled a half-court shot at the buzzer in his home debut to help lift the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team to a 69-66 comeback win over Gardner-Webb in front of 3,026 raucous fans inside McKenzie Arena on Tuesday night.
Following the first buzzer-beating win at home since Keegan Bell knocked down a triple to defeat The Citadel on January 14, 2010, Chattanooga is now winners of its last three and improves to 8-3 on the year. Gardner-Webb drops to 5-8 on the season with four of the eight defeats coming by single digits.
The Mocs erased a 17-point, first-half deficit during the victory, a first half in which the squad shot just 28.1% (9-of-32) from the field and 14.3% (2-of-14) from three. A battling effort on both sides of the floor allowed for the eventual comeback to take place.
"It was a very tough game for us. I thought we played as badly as we could have played for 'x' number of minutes," said head coach
Dan Earl following the thriller.
"When we share the ball, we lock in defensively and talk. We're a good basketball team. I'm proud of the guys for pulling this out, sticking with it, and I think it shows fibers that they didn't quit and kept battling."
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a back-and-forth affair in the early going as Gardner-Webb held a slight 9-7 lead at the game's first media timeout (15:27). The Runnin' Bulldogs would extend their lead, 17-9 (12:27), with eight of the next 10 points as the Mocs opened the stretch just one-of-eight from behind the arc.
The cold shooting continued for UTC over the next few minutes as GWU took full advantage, ballooning its lead to 27-11 on the help of 10 unanswered points with 8:52 left in the opening half. The Mocs tried chipping away at the deficit, getting within 12 (32-20) at the 5:01 mark on a pair of
Honor Huff free throws and five-quick points from
Jan Zidek.
Chattanooga buckled down on defense and held Gardner-Webb scoreless for the final 4:20 of the half, but could only head into the break down eight, 34-26, after finishing the opening 20 minutes just 2-of-14 (14.3%) from three. The Mocs saw a 15-6 disadvantage in fastbreak points during the span.
UTC came out of the second-half gates with five-straight points highlighted by a
Trey Bonham three at an expiring shot clock buzzer to make it a one possession game, 34-31, with 18:09 on the board. GWU quickly responded with an 8-0 run to build on its lead once again, 42-31, as the Mocs called timeout at the 15:41 mark.
The Runnin' Bulldogs continued to hold a comfortable lead, 50-37 (12:12), before Chattanooga made its charge. Trailing 55-42, the Mocs turned defense into offense as a pair of steals and a block turned into an 11-0 run that featured threes from Zidek and Bonham, bringing the home team within two, 55-53 (6:13).
A GWU triple in the corner stopped the run and brought its lead back to five, 58-53, before mayhem ensued down the stretch. GWU held its largest lead of the final two-plus minutes, 64-58 (2:23), before five-straight UTC points cut it to 64-63 with just 30 seconds remaining.
Huff locked down defensively at midcourt and tied up the possession with a GWU ball handler, forcing a called jump ball and a switch of possessions with 20 seconds on the board.
Tyler Millin brought McKenzie Arena to a roar with a go-ahead three (66-64) at the 10-second mark before the Runnin' Bulldogs answered with a game-tying bucket with 1.3 on the clock.
Insert chaos. Following a 60-second GWU timeout, Millin in-bounded the ball near mid-court to Bonham, who escaped the first defender and knocked down a half-court miracle shot at the buzzer, sending UTC home a 69-66 winner.
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 8-3 · Gardner-Webb 5-8 · Series: UTC now leads the all-time series 2-1.
THREE KEY NOTES | MORE
1. Chattanooga erased a 17-point deficit… 14-point deficit in the second half… led for just 53 seconds opposed to GWU's 38:08 mark… largest comeback win at home since eliminating a 19-point first-half deficit against Mercer on January 13, 2021 (W, 83-80).
2. Chattanooga outscored Gardner-Webb 43-32 in the second half… fifth-straight game for the Mocs with 40 or more in the final 20 minutes… first time it's been done for the program since a six-game stretch from December 30, 2013 to January 16, 2014.
3.
Jan Zidek paced the individual efforts with a game-high 27 points (one shy of career-high) on 8-of-11 shooting… went 4-of-5 from deep… 7-of-8 from the line… all accumulated in just shy of 25 minutes of floor time.
QUOTABLE | MORE
HC Dan Earl on Jan Zidek's efforts tonight.
"Jan was really good tonight. He's a matchup problem often for other teams, but we haven't really figured out the forward position on our side. But he was playing within himself, stretching the floor, making threes, that adds a dynamic level to our offense. He played a solid game through-and-through. We're happy to have him. I need to do a better job of figuring out lineups moving forward and we're in the process of doing that."
G Trey Bonham on the last week of NCAA rule chaos.
"It's been crazy. Craziest week of my life, seriously. I thought I wasn't going to play, then I wasn't, and as a whole, I thought I wouldn't be playing again until August. It's been a ride, but I'm extremely excited to be playing again."
NEXT UP – at Milwaukee – Friday, Dec. 22 – 2:00 p.m. ET – Milwaukee, Wisc. – ESPN+
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