NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

GREENSBORO, N.C. (Feb. 10, 2024) – The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team used a dominating effort on both sides of the floor during a huge 89-61 victory at UNCG in key Southern Conference action inside the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., on Saturday afternoon.
 
Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 17-8 overall and 9-3 in SoCon play while vaulting into sole possession of second place in the league standings. UNCG falls to 17-8 on the season and 8-4 inside SoCon action after the defeat.
 
The Mocs have now won six-straight SoCon road games which ties a program record that has now been accomplished four different times with the most recent before today occurring during the 1992-93 season.
 
"I'm proud of the guys for taking on the challenge today. UNCG is probably the most physical team in this league. Our guys showed up and I'm proud of that," said head coach Dan Earl after the win.
 
"We hope our guys have that mentality moving forward. I really thought we competed throughout, and you could see the look in their eyes, they were ready to play. I'm proud of their efforts overall."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga claimed an 8-7 lead at the first media timeout (15:40) on the help of triples from Trey Bonham and Honor Huff. Back-to-back buckets from Myles Che after a few defensive stops allowed for a 17-10 UTC lead with 11:50 left in the opening half.
 
The next four-plus minutes featured scrappy play from both teams before a Bonham three off a Sam Alexis screen gave the Mocs a 23-14 advantage at the 7:45 mark of the first half. Chattanooga earned its first double-digit lead in the early going, 27-17 (5:30), on a Jan Zidek mid-range jumper.
 
Che followed with his first three of the game moments later to make it 30-18 (4:04) before back-to-back threes from Che and Huff gave the guests their biggest lead, 38-23, with 2:12 to go before the break. After UNCG cut it to 10, 41-31, Huff closed the half with a buzzer-beating three to put UTC ahead 44-31 at the break.
 
Chattanooga busted out of the halftime break with a massive 21-4 run in just a little more than five minutes of action, building a sizable 62-35 lead with 14:47 left in the contest. The Mocs continued momentum with a spirited attack on both sides of the floor and held a 69-44 lead after a Zidek three at the 12:08 mark.
 
UTC stretched out the lead by as much as 29, 79-50, on a Sam Alexis turnaround jumper with 6:12 left in the contest before not allowing the hosts to get within anything less than a 22-point separation. The Mocs closed out the 89-61 dominant victory with a Ryan Lopez triple in the corner.
 
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 17-8, 9-3 SoCon · UNCG 17-8, 8-4 SoCon · Series: UTC & UNCG are now tied in the all-time series 28-28.

THREE KEY NOTES | MORE
1. The win marked Chattanooga's sixth-straight road SoCon victory… ties a program record… first time with six-straight road league wins since 1992-93… fourth time ever accomplishing the feat.

2. Trey Bonham led all scorers and tied a career-high with 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting… went 4-of-7 from three… perfect 7-of-7 from the line… first 30+ point game on the road for a Moc since David Jean-Baptiste's 31 at Samford February 2, 2022… added seven assists, four steals and committed just one turnover.

3. UTC finished the contest shooting 59.3% (32-of-54) from the field and 55.6% (15-of-27) from three… 15 made 3PT FG's are the most surrendered by UNCG this season… squad shot 68.2% (15-of-22) in the second half alone.

QUOTABLE | MORE
G Trey Bonham on the turnaround between the last meeting with UNCG.
"I think they got us by a surprise the first time around with their physicality, it's hard to mimic that in practice. We had better preparation coming into today and knew what we had to do coming in. We felt like the first time around we beat ourselves by letting them bully us. We wanted to flip that today coming in."
 
HC Dan Earl on offensive effort.
"It helps to make shots, especially early. We had a little more energy. I was more impressed with how we shared the ball. We got downhill and kicked the ball multiple time to get open shots. To score 89 points against a good defensive team is always great. I thought our decision making was fantastic tonight."

NEXT UP – vs. ETSU – Wednesday, February 14 – 7:00 p.m. ET – McKenzie Arena – ESPN+ – Valentine's Day & Y2K Night (First 700 Fans FREE Hat) – BUY TICKETS

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