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Opening night of Men’s Tournament, #8 Seed Chattanooga faced #9 The CItadel at 5pm. The winner of this matchup would face #1 Seed and Regular Season Champs ETSU on Saturday at Noon. When head to head in regular season, The Mocs and Bulldogs are 1-1, with this matchup being the tiebreaker. However, whichever team moves into the next level of bracket should be concerned, as neither have beaten ETSU this season.
Starting lineup for The Bulldogs is Christian Moore, Sola Adebisi, Eze Wali, Braxton Williams and Carter Kingsbury.
On the other side of the court, starting for Chattanooga is Tate Darner, Jordan Frison, Brennan Watkins, Teddy Washington Jr, and Makai Richards.
First Half
Out the gate, Braxton Williams was putting up points for The Bulldogs. By 13:34, he had 8 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal. The offense in the first half for The Bulldogs was heavy in 3’s, and asserting ball control. However, every score The Citadel would make, The Mocs were right behind them to keep up. Coming up short for 3’s, The Mocs maintained consistency in the paint, and defensive rebounding. Only making 1-3 on 3’s, The Mocs were 11-17 for FG’s, creating their 29-27 lead at 6:45.
The Bulldogs crept back from a deficit with 3:57 left in the first and tied it up 35-35. All the way through the end of the half, the tie switched back and forth until a foul by Makai Richards gave The Bulldogs 2 FT to tie it up. Score at the half was 49-49.
First half standouts for UTC were Tate Danner (6-6 FG’s, 4-4 3’s, 3 rebounds), Jordan Frison (3-7 FG’s, 2-3 3’s, 5 assists), and Makai Richards (4-5 FG’s, 2 rebounds, 1 steal). Overall the team shot for 58% on FG’s, 54% from 3’s, and 100% of FT’s.
Standouts for The Bulldogs were Keynan Davis (5-7 FG’s, 5-6 3’s, 2-2 FT’s), Sola Adebisi (5-7 FG’s, 2-3 3’s, 3-4 FT’s, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks), and Braxton Williams (4-8 FG’s, 2-5 3’s, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks). Overall The Bulldogs went 55% for FG’s, 53% for 3’s, and 83% for FT’s.
Second Half
Eager to advance, both The Citadel and UTC came back from the half strong. The Bulldogs went on a 9-0 run until 16:43 when a jumper from Brennan Watkins brought the Mocs to 51 points. The Bulldogs remained ahead, but allowed 3 back to back 3’s for The Mocs. 2 coming from Billy Smith on the left, and one from Keynan Davis. The Mocs kept fighting back, and with a layup from Collin Mullholand, the Mocs are up 70-69 at 10:02. That was their first lead of the half. Citadel quickly drove back down the court making a layup to secure the lead once again.
At 7:07, the Bulldogs are still up, 73-70. The Bulldogs started slipping by giving up rebounds, and The Mocs gained momentum and took the lead 78-75 with 3:58 in the half. But The Bulldogs didn’t give up yet, trading the lead with UTC, and gaining it back at 2:16 with a hookshot from Christian Moore.
To end the contest, The Mocs and Bulldogs became very physical. Personal Fouls from The Mocs and strong rebound efforts from both sides made this a fight to the end. In a clutch moment, Sola Adebisi made a 3 pointer to bring Citadel to a 88-85 lead with 3.4 seconds left in the half. UTC took possession and failed to score. Final score 88-85 Bulldogs.
Chattanooga leaders were Tate Darner (16 points, 8 rebounds), Collin Mulhullond (12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), Brennan Watkins (14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), and Jordan Frison (16 points, 1 rebound, 9 assists).
Citadel Top Performers were Sola Adebisi (26 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists), Keynan Davis (20 points, 2 rebounds), Christian Moore (14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists), and Braxton Williams (17 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists).
Next Up;
Next up for The Bulldogs, they move on to play ETSU at Noon on Saturday, March 7th.
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