Hamilton Reporter

The Chattanooga Mocs are back in the Southern Conference Championship game by virtue of a 74-62 win over Wofford in Sunday's nightcap at Harrah's Cherokee Center. It was quite a day for the two schools with the Mocs women winning SoCon Tourney Title No. 19 over the Wofford women to start the festivities.

 

Jake Stephens led all scorers with 25 points adding seven rebounds and four steals. He was joined in double figures by Dalvin White's 13-point effort along with Jamal Johnson's 12 and A.J. Caldwell tallying 10. Jackson Paveletzke led the Terriers with 20.

 

"Great game by our guys," Coach Dan Earl shared. "It's all about the next guy up for us, and we had different guys up here yesterday, but today, everyone impacted the game.

 

"Credit to Wofford, they are a hard-playing team. Coach Perry has done a wonderful job with that team."

 

Chattanooga and Furman are back together in the title game Monday night. The Mocs beat the Paladins on an epic buzzer-beater by David Jean-Baptiste in 2022. Game time is 7 p.m., on ESPN.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Chattanooga weathered a hot Wofford start to the game take a healthy 10-point first-half lead on back-to-back threes from Stephens and Caldwell. The Terriers stormed back and looked to take a lead into the break before White's jumper with 15 seconds on the clock sent the Mocs into intermission up 35-34.

 

Another quick start to the second half this weekend for UTC with an 11-0 dash. It began with a Stephens layup off a nice feed from Caldwell and ended with White's three on a pass from Randy Brady for a 46-34 advantage with just under 16 minutes remaining.

 

The lead reached 14, 50-36, on a Khristion Courseault free throw a minute later and it looked like the Mocs were ready to run away and hide. That didn't occur, but Chattanooga was barely threatened the rest of the way.

 

Wofford cut the lead to seven three times in final 15 minutes, but the answer was always readily available. Every time the Terriers made that move, the Mocs had it back to double figures within two possessions.

 

QUOTABLE

"We were all pumping Randy Brady up; all the guys were on top of him. He played a fantastic defensive game, especially on BJ Mack. He really impacted the game, and that's what we're asking the guys to do." – Coach Dan Earl expounding on his quote above about impacts throughout the lineup

 

"It's awesome. You can't ask for a better fan base and this time of the year, it really brings it out of everyone. Honestly, they are awesome. They support no matter what. We consistently fill McKenzie Arena, and you see them traveling. This isn't just right down the road. For the fans to want to come out and see us, it's awesome." – Jake Stephens on the fans & Chattanooga atmosphere in Asheville

 

"I think the biggest thing going into tomorrow night is to just to take it all in and respect the moment. A lot of people get anxious and get tight all day, but you have to treat it just like a regular game. You have to respect the moment and realize what's in front of you. It's my last year, Jake's last year, we've prepared for this and we're ready for it. We'll go into tomorrow night and do our best." - A.J. Caldwell on heading back to the title game

 

RECORDS/SERIES

Chattanooga (18-16) | Wofford (17-16)

Series: Chattanooga leads 30-22 all-time / Chattanooga leads 3-2 in SoCon Tournament Meetings

 

NOTES TO KNOW

• Back-to-back SoCon Semifinal wins over the Terriers. Last year was a 79-56 final.
• After 177 points in the opening two tournament games – 92 vs VMI & 85 vs Samford – the Mocs won with defense tonight. Held Wofford to 62 points, their lowest output since Feb. 1 at ETSU (52).
• Back-to-back games with 11-0 runs coming out of the halftime locker room.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• For what felt like a nip-and-tuck, see-saw affair, the Mocs led for 30:38 with just two ties and three lead changes.
• The Mocs shot 68.2 percent (15-22) INSIDE the arc and 34.6 percent (9-26) beyond it.
• Chattanooga was +18 at the 3pt line making nine and limiting the Terriers to just three. (3-23, 13.0%). That offset a 12-3 second chance points boost for Wofford on 13 offensive rebounds.

Original source can be found here