NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Mar. 10, 2024) – No. 3 seed Chattanooga men's basketball saw its 2024 Southern Conference Tournament come to an end in heart-breaking fashion on Sunday night in the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C., with UTC dropping their matchup with No. 7 seeded ETSU 85-84 in overtime.

At one point leading by 20 points with 14:18 left in the game, the Mocs were unable to manage the Buccaneers full-court press and physicality down the stretch, with ETSU forcing overtime at 79-79. Despite free throws falling from Randy Brady to give UTC a narrow lead in OT, a clutch shot from ETSU's Karon Boyd proved fatal as the Mocs were unable to respond, giving East Tennessee State a spot in the SoCon title game on Monday.

16 Chattanooga turnovers, 12 of which came in the second half, ended up plaguing the Mocs' hopes right up until the final buzzer of the night. A total of four Mocs would end the night with 10+ in the scoring column with Jan Zidek 26 points leading the way for UTC.

HOW IT HAPPENED
ETSU put the Mocs on their heels early behind their physicality and offensive rebounding, helping the Buccaneers to jump out in front. While the Bucs controlled the lead, Chattanooga kept within striking distance with the Mocs never trailing by more than five points in the opening stretch. The Mocs' patience would finally pay off as a Noah Melson connected on a three-point jumper at the 12:49 mark of the first, giving UTC its first lead of the night, 17-15.

What helped the Mocs' cause was a stifling stretch of defense that started at the 13:49 mark of the first half, where UTC would proceed to hold ETSU to zero made field goals for the next 9:35 of the game. Despite this stretch, the Mocs were unable to find a consistent offense of their own, keeping the score tight between the two teams as neared the halftime break.

That was until the Mocs were able to rip off a flurry of buckets to close out the frame, accented with an Honor Huff three-pointer with just seven seconds to go to bump UTC's advantage to double-digits. Down to the final 20 minutes of action, the Mocs found themselves up 38-27.

To open the second half, the Mocs were able to turn to Jan Zidek to help galvanize a relatively stagnant UTC offense in the first. Connecting on bucket-after-bucket and making stop-after-stop, Chattanooga was able to build up what looked like a comfortable 54-34 lead with 14:18 left to play. ETSU wasn't ready to go quietly into the night, however, as the Buccaneers' full-court press shifted the tide late.

Behind 12 second-half tunrovers by the Mocs, compounded with ETSU coming away with multiple offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities, the Buccaneers crawled their way back to level with UTC. Through 40 minutes of action, these two sides needed another five minutes to help decide this one as the score sat level at 79-79.

Overtime would go back and forth between the two sides, and a pair of clutch free throws by Randy Brady helped see Chattanooga ahead 84-83 with just 1:31 remaining in the period. A clutch basket from ETSU's Karon Boyd saw the Bucs retake the lead, 85-84, with now just seconds left to play. Both Trey Bonham and Jan Zidek would get chances for the Mocs to jump ahead, but neither would fall as the Mocs saw their SoCon Tournament final hopes dashed.

RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 21-12, 12-6 SoCon · ETSU 19-12, 7-7 SoCon · Series: UTC now leads the all-time series 52-40.

NOTABLE | MORE
- UTC's all-time SCT Semifinals record now moves to 20-7.
- This is head coach Dan Earl's ninth appearance in the SoCon Tournament appearance (7x w/ VMI, 2x w/ UTC).
- Earl's career SCT coaching record now stands at 7-9.
- Tonight's overtime game marked the ninth postseason OT game for the Mocs in program history. UTC's record in postseason OT games now moves to 4-5.
- The last time UTC went to overtime in the postseason? March 7, 2022 in the SoCon title game against Furman (UTC won 64-63).
- Honor Huff was able to move into a tie for 13^th on Chattanooga's single-season scoring list following his 16-point night in Asheville, with Huff now at 575 on the season. Huff also overtook Stephen McDowell for third-place on UTC's single-season 3PTM leaderboard, now sitting at 109 after making two from behind the arc tonight.
- After ending his night with four blocks, Sam Alexis has now moved into sixth on UTC's single-season blocks leaderboard, sitting at 70 on the year. The next highest Moc, fifth-place Justin Tuoyo (2015-16), sits at 77 blocks in a season.
- Trey Bonham earned himself a double-double on the night, the first of his career with rebounds, as he ended the evening with 19 points and 11 boards. Bonham's previous career-high was nine rebounds v The Citadel on Feb. 12, 2022 while at VMI. Bonham's UTC-high in rebounding was eight, which he accomplished twice this season. This marks his second double-double of the season (had 15 points, 11 assists at VMI on Feb. 8)
- After dropping 26 tonight against ETSU, Jan Zidek has now had six 20-point games this season. His most recent one came Feb. 28 against Mercer (finished with 24).

QUOTABLE | MORE
HC Dan Earl's opening Statement:
"Obviously it's tougher night than last night. And this thing ends quickly, which is tough about March. In regards to the game, you just point to the 16 turnovers we had, which was tough, and then the 24 offensive rebounds ETSU had so credit to them."

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