Box Score | Notes/Quotes

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (February 11, 2026) – For the first time since 2020 inside Freedom Hall, the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team fell to Southern Conference rival ETSU after suffering a 73-61 defeat on Wednesday night in front of a nationally televised audience on CBS Sports Network in Johnson City.
 
Following the defeat, Chattanooga falls to 10-16 on the year and 4-9 inside SoCon play while seeing its five-game win streak in Johnson City snapped. ETSU remains in sole possession of first place in the league standings at 11-2 and upped its overall mark to 19-7 following the victory.

Quick Records
Chattanooga: 10-16, 4-9 SoCon
ETSU: 19-7, 11-2 SoCon

Series History
Meeting: 105th | UTC leads 56-49 (H: 29-14; A: 20-26; N: 7-9)
*UTC now leads 42-27 in SoCon regular season meetings

Game Breakdown

• Tate Darner connected on a corner three before Jordan Frison stopped an ETSU scoring run with a three of his own to keep UTC within one early, 11-10 (13:43).
• The two teams struggled to score the ball over much of the opening half as a physical battle on both ends led to an 18-18 tie with 5:42 left on the board.
• ETSU scored eight unanswered following the tie to build a 26-18 (3:59) edge before the hosts ultimately took a five-point lead, 32-27, into the halftime break following a late moment layup.
• Chattanooga opened the second half with nine quick points and pulled itself into a tie, 36-36 (17:32), after a Frison contested finish at the rim.
• After ETSU created separation with a six-point lead, Watkins knocked down his second triple of the game to pull UTC within just three, 48-45, with 11:51 to play.
• ETSU successfully challenged a goaltending call that would have had the Mocs down four, 53-49 (9:30), and turned the two-point swing into its largest lead of the game, 57-47 (8:32), while forcing a timeout in the process.
• UTC answered with five quick points from Darner and a floater from Frison to put together a 7-0 run, cutting its deficit to just three, 59-56, with 5:22 left.
• ETSU's Maki Johnson countered the run with a three to push it back to six, 62-56, before the hosts maintained safe distance down the stretch on its way to the 73-61 victory.

Notes to Know / Inside the Box Score

• Chattanooga led for just 2:13 tonight… ETSU held a lead for 32:37… nine-straight games trailing for 20 minutes or more… UTC has led for just 135:03 of the 520:00 possible minutes (25.9%) this season in SoCon play.
• Chattanooga was whistled for 24 fouls during the defeat opposed to ETSU's 13… ETSU went 26-35 (74.3%) from the FT line… UTC has allowed 20+ FTA to its opponent in 11 of the 13 SoCon games this season… 91 FTA over the past three games.
• Jordan Frison led all UTC scorers with 15 points on 6-12 FG shooting… tied a team-high with six rebounds and added five assists… upped career scoring total to 1,298 across 87 games between Pitt State (DII) and UTC.

 
Postgame Quotes
Dan Earl on moving forward.
"Maybe some of it was poor decision-making, but there were some open shots that we just did not make. And again, if you're going to beat a good team, you must make shots on top of playing well. I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea, but this is just not okay, and we're working. I want it for our guys, mostly, and I want it for our fans … I want it for everybody involved. If you watched the game, I think we saw that we can compete at a high level. We just have to do that at all times, but the reality is, we just didn't play well on top of other things to win tonight."

Up Next | Schedule
Chattanooga returns home for a Saturday SoCon matchup against Western Carolina inside McKenzie Arena. The game is set for a 4:30 p.m. (ET) tip and will be the second leg of a doubleheader with the women's team tipping at 2 p.m. (ET) against ETSU.

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