Mocs Escape VMI with 88-84 Victory

(gomocs.com) LEXINGTON, Va. (Feb. 8, 2024) – The Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball team earned its fifth-straight Southern Conference road victory after surviving a late run during an 88-84 win at VMI inside Cameron Hall on Thursday night in Lexington, Va.
 
Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 16-8 overall and 8-3 inside SoCon play. The five-straight league road victories ties for the second-longest such streak in program history and is the first such streak since 1992-93. VMI falls to 4-20 overall and 1-10 in league play after the defeat.
 
“That was a hard one. A ton of credit to VMI. They played outstandingly and they really came at us. It’s a tough place to play with the core behind them, it got loud,” said former Keydets bench boss Dan Earl after the win.
 
“When it got tight, we made the plays down the stretch to win. There’s something good there that we didn’t get too tight and played through it. Proud of the guys, but it was not the cleanest game.”

HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga and VMI opened the game at a frantic scoring pace with the Keydets grabbing an early 15-14 lead at the first media timeout (14:31). The Mocs rallied with a quick 8-0 run highlighted by back-to-back threes from Honor Huff and Noah Melson to force the Keydets into a timeout, leading 22-15 with 12:28 left in the half.
 
UTC continued the deep threat over the next four-plus minutes as consecutive triples from Tyler Millin and Rudy Fitzgibbons III forced the hosts into another timeout while extending the lead to 10, 33-23 (7:31). VMI shortened its deficit to five, 34-29 (5:29), with a quick 6-1 run before the two teams ultimately went into the break separated by five, 45-40.
 
Chattanooga ended the first half shooting 46.9% (15-of-32) from the floor including a 52.9% (9-of-17) mark from deep which featured seven different Mocs accounting for at least one triple. Eight of the nine Mocs who saw first-half action contributed with scoring.
 
UTC opened the second half with six quick points after a successful and-one conversion from Trey Bonham and a deep three from Huff to build a 51-40 lead less than a minute into frame. The two teams continued to trade points on each end of the floor, eventually allowing for a 57-49 Mocs lead with 15:43 left in the contest.
 
After VMI cut it to five, 57-52 (14:49), Chattanooga immediately answered with a 6-1 run on the help of four-straight Demetrius Davis points to create a double-digit lead once again, 63-53, at the 12:43 mark. As basketball is a game of runs, VMI responded with a 14-4 run over the next three-plus minutes to tie the game, 67-67, with under nine minutes remaining.
 
VMI took its first lead of the game since early in the first half, 75-74 (4:13), following a pair of free throws before Huff knocked down his fourth triple of the game on the following possession to give UTC a 77-75 lead with 3:39 left in the contest. Trailing 80-77 (1:57), the Mocs used three-straight threes with Huff providing two and Jan Zidek with one, to gain a late 86-80 lead with just 29 seconds left, before eventually capping off an 88-84 victory.
 
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 16-8, 8-3 SoCon · VMI 4-20, 1-10 SoCon · Series: UTC now leads the all-time series 52-16.

THREE KEY NOTES | MORE
1. The win marked Chattanooga’s fifth-straight SoCon road victory… second longest such streak in program history… first five-game SoCon road winning streak since the 1992-93 season… just the fourth time ever occurring in program history.
 
2. Trey Bonham and Honor Huff made their second appearances against their former team and first in Lexington… Huff (22) and Bonham (15) combined for 37 points… in four games with former Keydets playing (including Jake Stephens in 2022-23), the former VMI players have combined for 120 points (30.0 ppg), 52.5% FG (42-80), 50.0% 3PT (17-34), 45 rebounds (10.5 rpg), 21 assists (5.3 apg).
 
3. Honor Huff scored a team-high 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting including a 6-of-11 mark from three… tied a career-high with six rebounds… third game this season with six or more threes… 7 made 3PT FG’s ties career high which was set earlier this year in win at Louisville (November 10, 2023).

QUOTABLE | MORE
On the play of Trey Bonham & Honor Huff.
“I thought they played well in spurts. I think they tried a couple homerun balls. I had to get on them a little bit in the first half over shot selection and decision making. Some things we didn’t need. But what also makes them good, they made huge plays down the stretch especially with Honor’s big three.”
 
G Honor Huff on taking big-time shots down the stretch.
“I knew in that moment, you don’t want to take a hero shot that’s ill-advised in that moment, but I knew if I had an open look, I was going to take it. That’s a testament to the teammate’s confidence in me, the coaches’ confidence in me, and the confidence I have in myself.”

NEXT UP – at UNCG – Saturday, February 10 – 4:00 p.m. ET – Greensboro, N.C. – ESPN+