UNCG's Ronald Polite III (11) follows his game-winning shot to defeat UTC, 78-75
photo by Paul Payne
It was a mixed bag of some good news and some bad news Thursday evening at McKenzie Arena as the Chattanooga Mocs opened the home portion of their Southern Conference schedule in hosting UNC Greensboro.
First, the good news. The Mocs shot a blistering 58.5% from the field – a season best – and limited two of the Spartans’ starting five and all four of their reserves to a total of eight points.
Now for the not-so-pleasant flipside. The other three UNCG starters combined for a staggering 70 points, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Ronald Polite III, to steal a 78-75 victory just moments after it seemed the Mocs had forced overtime thanks to a clutch trey from Honor Huff.
Coupled with last week’s overtime loss at Mercer, UTC (9-7 overall, 1-2 in SoCon) is painstakingly close to being undefeated three games deep into conference play. Instead, they once again are left looking for answers on how early leads evaporated into gut-wrenching losses.
UNCG (10-6, 3-0 SoCon) remained atop the conference standings with a pair of road wins thanks to their three-headed monster. Donovan Atwell was true on 6-of-7 3-pointers in posting a career-high 28 points, while diminutive Radford transfer Kenyon Giles added 26 and Polite III, a George Mason transfer, chipped in with 16.
Chattanooga placed four players in double figures paced by Bash Wieland’s 22 points. Frank Champion added 14, while Trey Bonham totaled 11 and Collin Mulholland 10.
The Mocs operated with offensive efficiency the entire game after making nine their first 10 shots, but the lapses on the defensive end left UTC head coach Dan Earl seeking answers.
“I thought we executed well offensively, but It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that our defense has to be much, much better,” Earl said. “Our biggest key was stopping their big three again. You can pick up a stat sheet and you see who scores in double figures. When you watch games, it's not difficult to figure out how they're going to hurt you. And their big three scored 70 of the 78 points. It's hard to make that up, you know? We just could not figure out how to stop those three.”
Chattanooga had no answers for the 5-foot-9 Giles down the stretch as the junior scored 11 of 15 points for the Spartans at crunch time. Six of those came on running floaters down the lane where he kissed the shot high off the backboard on three straight possessions in the final two minutes to give the guests a four-point lead with 1:06 remaining.
A bucket from Wieland cut the gap to 74-72 at 0:46, and the Mocs responded with a strong defensive stand that forced a contested 3-pointer from Giles. The Spartans collected the rebound, and Bonham’s foul of Polite III with 16 seconds was questionably determined to have been in the act of shooting, resulted in three free throws.
Polite III converted only the second charity toss, leaving the deficit at three as Chattanooga called time out. Huff was able to work off a screen with a 3-pointer to tie the game with 3.1 seconds on the clock. But Polite III was able to atone for his missed free throws, taking the inbounds pass and weaving his way to launch his decisive game-winner above Huff’s outstretched arms.
After UTC led by 10 points at 29-19 with 7:50 left until intermission, the Spartans closed the opening frame with a 19-7 surge thanks to 18 first half points from Atwell to lead 38-36.
“Atwell is a tremendous shooter, and he doesn't need much space at all. You cannot let him get the shot off. It is frustrating for everyone watching - the players, certainly the coaches, the fans - who are like, ‘Hey, who's going to guard Atwell?’ No kidding, we're all aware. And yet he gets off another very difficult three. We have to make it harder on guys to score and harder to do what they do best.”
The Mocs trailed by five at 59-54 before a 3-pointer by Jack Kostel and an old-fashioned three-point play from Wieland capped an 8-0 run to give the hosts a 62-59 edge with 11:24 remaining.
But UTC encountered an offensive slump at an inopportune time, missing 11 of 12 shots while scoring only three points over a critical seven-minute stretch. Coupled with a pair of unforced Chattanooga turnovers in the final minutes, Giles began to assert himself to set the stage for Polite III’s final heroics.
“UNCG is a tough opponent, but we have to figure out how to win that game. It's execution down the stretch, absolutely, but we got to be better throughout the game and just make it more difficult on people,” Earl said. “That's something we’ve got to take pride in. We’ve got to look at strategically what we can do differently, maybe try to take guys out even more, but we just have to be better on the defensive side.”
The Spartans finished the game making 53.7% of their attempts (29-of-54), including 11-of-23 from beyond the arc. UTC finished 7-of-18 on 3-pointers. UNCG also won the rebounding battle, 26-24, leading to a 9-0 margin in second chance points.
Champion scored 10 second half points and finished 7-of-8 from the field, but also allowed five of the Mocs nine turnovers as a team. Wieland’s five rebounds was tops for the hosts.
The contest featured 12 ties and nine lead changes, with Chattanooga leading for 20:51 minutes of the game. The Mocs have lost five straight contests to UNCG inside McKenzie Arena, and six of the last seven.
HOMECOMING FOR FORMER MOC: Graduate transfer Demetrius Davis, who played for UTC the past two seasons, returned to McKenzie Arena to face his former team. Davis was in the starting lineup for the Spartans, but two fouls in the first minute limited his playing time. He failed to score after missing a trio of 3-pointers and a free throw, but added four rebounds and an assist in 13 minutes of court action.
VMI UP NEXT: UTC is scheduled to host VMI (6-10, 0-3 SoCon) on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Keydets dropped an 81-68 decision at Samford on Thursday, and were due to make it to Chattanooga prior to Friday’s winter storm. With both teams in town, the game will proceed as scheduled as long as the officials are able to arrive safely. For the latest updates check with GoMocs.com.
Paul Payne can be emailed at [email protected]