NOTES/QUOTES
EVANSVILLE, IND. (December 12, 2024) – The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team saw a balanced scoring effort and held off a second-half surge from Evansville during a 75-67 road victory inside the Ford Center on Thursday night in Evansville, Indiana.
Leading for more than 31 minutes of action, Chattanooga (6-4) controlled much of the game despite Evansville (3-7) putting together a strong second-half surge for the second-straight season. The Purple Aces erased the Mocs 12-point halftime lead, jumping ahead 52-51 with 10:17 left, before the guests outscored the hosts 24-15 down the stretch.
Trey Bonham (22),
Frank Champion (12) and
Honor Huff (12) all reached double figures in scoring while
Collin Mulholland (9) added to the balanced effort. UTC finished shooting an even 50.0% (29-58) from the floor and featured a season-best three-point attack with highs in both makes (12) and percentage (46.2%, 12-26).
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 6-4 · Evansville 3-7 · Second Meeting · Series tied 1-1.
GAME FLOW/INSIDE THE BOX
1H 16:47 –
Trey Bonham tied things 5-5 on a pull-up three as the shot clock was winding down.
1H 11:30 –
Collin Mulholland hit three consecutive triples within a minute stretch to give UTC a 17-9 lead.
1H 8:40 – Connor Turnbull (UE) finished in the paint to cap off a 6-0 Aces run, cutting the team's deficit to five, 22-17.
1H 4:46 –
Honor Huff added to the three-point barrage with his second, giving the Mocs a 30-22 edge.
1H 0:01 –
Sean Cusano hit a fadeaway jumper off a baseline out-of-bounds play as time expired.
HALF – Chattanooga 41, Evansville 29: Largest halftime lead of the season for UTC; UTC shot 16-31 (51.6%) in total and went 9-17 (52.9%) from deep; held UE to a 2-11 (18.2%) mark from three in the half.
2H 17:47 –
Frank Champion scored the team's first six points of the half to keep UTC ahead by 12, 47-35.
2H 16:08 – Tanner Cuff (UE) knocked down a triple at the top of the key to pull the aces within single digits, 51-42.
2H 12:47 – Cuff (UE) connected again from deep as part of a 10-0 Aces run to make it a two-point game in favor of the Mocs, 51-49.
2H 7:33 – After Evansville took a brief one-point lead, UTC answered with a 7-0 run to pull back ahead 58-52.
2H 3:12 – Bonham and Huff hit back-to-back threes to keep guests ahead eight, 68-60.
2H 1:38 – Huff hit the eventual dagger three, hitting 1,000 points for his career in the process, to extend the lead 71-60.
FINAL –
Chattanooga 75, Evansville 67
KEY NOTES | MORE
∙ UTC finished with its second-best FG% of the season after going an even 50.0% (29-58)… season best three-point effort with 12 makes at a 46.2% (12-26) mark.
∙ Streak of 5+ 3PT FGs extends to 78-straight games… began at 2022-23 season opener… every game under
Dan Earl… second-longest active streak in DI (Oral Roberts, 136)… 14th longest streak all-time in DI history.
∙
Honor Huff hit 1,000 career points with his 12
th and final point of the night… finished with 12 on 4-11 FG, 4-9 3PT… 75
th career game… came off the bench tonight for first time during UTC tenure… team-high 35 minutes.
POSTGAME QUOTES | MORE
HC Dan Earl's opening thoughts after the 75-67 win at Evansville.
"They are hard to come by [road wins]. Evansville, you know, like I said before the game, they probably want to have won a couple more games, but they are a good team and certainly playing on the road against a Missouri Valley team isn't easy. There were some late game things that we certainly have to clean up. My blood pressure was going through the roof on some defensive stuff. But on the whole, a lot of guys positively impacted the game, and we got some really good minutes from some guys."
Frank Champion on tonight's win.
"It's always tough on the road and it was one that we really needed, and I think it was big for us, you know, putting us in the right direction before we get ready to take these next steps towards conference play."
UP NEXT – Chattanooga vs. Alabama A&M – Sunday, Dec. 15 – 2 p.m. ET – ESPN+ – McKenzie Arena (
TICKETS)
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