Mocs Too Tough For Citadel Winning 125-85

CHATTANOOGA—The Chattanooga Mocs raced past The Citadel 125-85 Monday night for their sixth win in a row and 14th in the last 15 games. The squad improves to 19-3 on the year, 8-1 atop the Southern Conference standings.

The 125 points ties the school record for most in a game (Emmanuel, 11/29/03) and the 40-point margin of victory is the largest in school history in a conference game.

“I know it’d make my former boss (Billy Donovan) happy,” coach Matt McCall said. “He always use to turn to me and say ‘I want 100.’ My wife reminded me of that tonight. Give them credit to start the game, they came out one-three-one. They hadn’t done much of that. You’re thinking they’re going to press the whole game.

“Some of that had to do with Warren Sledge and Quayson Williams being out I’m sure. Again, it’s a sign of our guys being unselfish, handling their pressure. We got to the free throw line. We made our free throws, which I think was a huge key to the game.”

Greg Pryor led the way with 21 points, four rebounds, six assists (0 TO’s) and four steals. He led five in double figures being joined by Tre’ McLean (17), Duke Ethridge (14), Dee Oldham (13) and Peyton Woods (12).

Brian White came off the bench to pace the Bulldogs with 18 points. Connor Schroeder and Derrick Henry chipped in 10 apiece.

It was a two-point game in the first half, 24-22, when a 12-3 spurt quickly extended the lead to 11, 36-25, on a McLean triple at 2:50. It swelled to 17, 48-31, after two Ethridge free throws. Zane Najdawi beat the buzzer with a tip-in for a 48-33 halftime margin.

It was all Mocs the rest of the way. The lead topped 20, 53-33, on a Justin Tuoyo layup with 19:12 to go. It reached 30 eight minutes later as Ethridge powered through with a jam at 11:22 for the 82-51 advantage. Two-plus minutes later, it was a 40-point cushion, 95-55 on Woods’ three.

“We started executing, and we opened up a little bit,” Oldham shared. “When you play the right way and play together things like that tends to happen. As fast as that lead opened up, it could have closed just as fast. Like Tre’ said, coach kept preaching to keep doing what we did to get this lead.”

He and McLean turned in fantastic all-around performances. In addition to his season-high 13 points, Oldham tied Ethridge for game-high honors with eight rebounds to go with five assists, one block and two steals. McLean added six boards, three assists, three blocks (career high) and two steals.

Chattanooga took care of the ball against the hectic Bulldogs press with just six turnovers, tying the season low (at Wofford). It took full advantage of the 14 Citadel miscues with a 23-7 margin in points off turnovers.

The home team shot 54.9 percent (39-71) from the field, 72.5 percent (29-40) inside the 3pt arc. They set a school record for free throws made with 37.

The Citadel led by five early in the first half and had a lead as late as 8:29, 20-19, on a Quinton Marshall three. Pryor put his squad up for good with three free throws 28 seconds later.

The first-place Mocs remain in McKenzie Arena this weekend hosting Wofford on Thursday and second-place Furman on Saturday.