Mocs Pick Up Huge SoCon Win Over Samford 82-66
(gomocs.com) – The Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball team continued its winning ways and remained atop the Southern Conference standings after grinding to a convincing 82-66 road victory at Samford on Wednesday night inside the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala.
In a battle of the league’s top teams (along with UNCG), Chattanooga (18-8, 10-3 SoCon) used a stifling attack on both sides of the floor from the opening tip to ultimately go wire-to-wire during the victory over Samford (19-6, 9-4 SoCon). Leading 61-57 with 9:19 left in the game, UTC held Samford without a field goal from that point until just 35 seconds on the board to help create separation down the stretch.
The win marked Chattanooga’s sixth-straight overall, sixth-straight in SoCon road games (ties program record) and handed the host Bulldogs just its second home loss in its previous 32 contests. It’s also Samford’s first time dropping consecutive SoCon regular season games since January 2023.
Frank Champion nearly recorded the program’s first triple double in over 13 years after finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while adding three steals and three blocks in 34 minutes of action. Trey Bonham led the team with 18 points while Honor Huff added 17 and Jack Kostel added 11 to round out the team’s double-digit scorers.
RECORD UPDATE – Chattanooga 18-8, 10-3 SoCon ∙ Samford 19-7, 9-4 SoCon
SERIES HISTORY – 114th Meeting ∙ Chattanooga leads 69-45 all-time.
FIRST HALF KEY MOMENTS
∙ Chattanooga opened the game on a 9-0 run (15:50) after forcing Samford into a 0-of-6 start from the field while turning the hosts over three times during the span.
∙ Samford answered with three-straight makes including a pair of threes to trim into the Mocs lead, 11-8 (13:46).
∙ Jack Kostel connected on the team’s first three to extend the lead to eight, 19-11 (9:09), before a 12-5 run allowed UTC to grab a 31-16 (4:32) lead and force Samford into a timeout.
∙ Bulldogs quickly responded with a 10-0 spurt to trim its deficit to five, 31-26 (1:43), before the Mocs scored the half’s final five points to grab a double-digit lead at the break.
HALF: Chattanooga 36, Samford 26 – UTC finished the half shooting 43.3% (13-30); out-rebounded SAM 20-16.
SECOND HALF KEY MOMENTS
∙ Chattanooga started the second half 4-of-4 from the field after a Trey Bonham three extended the advantage to 15, 45-30 (17:31).
∙ As the pace picked up, Honor Huff found Sean Cusano for an open corner three to keep the Mocs in front by double digits, 54-41 (14:49).
∙ Samford cut it to single digits, 56-49 (11:15), before Huff connected on a three plus a foul to push it back to 10, 61-51 (10:19).
∙ The Bulldogs clapped back with six unanswered in just 36 seconds to force UTC into a timeout while leading 61-57 (9:18).
∙ Chattanooga’s defense held Samford scoreless for nearly four minutes from that point to amount a 69-57 (5:27) lead.
∙ The strong defensive effort continued down the stretch as UTC held the hosts without a field goal for nearly the final nine minutes of the game to help notch the 82-68 victory.
FINAL: Chattanooga 82, Samford 66 – UTC held Samford without a FGM from 9:19 to 0:35 on the second-half game clock.
