Gee McGhee (Baton Rouge, La.) had a season-high 19 points but it was not enough as the Chattanooga Mocs (1-4) lost 71-63 to Louisiana Tech (4-1) Tuesday night in McKenzie Arena. It was the final game of the CBE Classic Chattanooga Sub-Regional.
Raheem Appleby led all scorers with 30 points for the Bulldogs. Kenneth Smith added 12 points, five rebounds and six assists.
It was a nip-and-tuck battle in the second half after LA Tech built an eight-point cushion, 42-34, at the break.
The Mocs cut it to a one possession game on several occasions, but the Bulldogs always had answer.
Down six, 54-48, with 12:22 remaining, UTC mounted another charge. Drazen Zlovaric (Novi Sad, Serbia) and McGhee scored on back-to-back trips to cut it to two, 54-52. Brandon Gibson’s steal and dunk at 8:34 made it a three-point game, 58-55, but the Mocs reserve posts closed the gap.
Jared Bryant (Cincinnati, Ohio) made a free throw and Sam Watson (Farragut, Tenn.) a layup to tie the game at 58-all with 6:46 to go. It was a two-point game on a McGhee layup, 62-60, with 2:34 to go, but the Mocs could not garner a second half lead. The Bulldogs closed on a 13-5 run after the tie for the eight-point win.
Ronrico White (Knoxville, Tenn.) had 10 points in support of McGhee’s night. The Mocs shot a season-high 46.2 percent (24-52), out-scoring LA Tech 36-16 in the paint. Chattanooga dominated on the glass, 39-25, with Zlovaric and Z. Mason (Nashville, Tenn.) each grabbing nine.
UTC’s undoing was 24 turnovers. The Bulldogs scored 21 points on those miscues which were in many ways unforced errors.
The Mocs return to action Saturday, November 24, on the road at Kennesaw State. Game time is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., in the north Atlanta suburb. Listen to all the exciting play-by-play from “Voice of the Mocs” Jim Reynolds on ESPN 105.1 the Zone in Chattanooga, or world-wide on GoMocs.com. MocsVision has the live action online and you can follow @GoMocsMBB on twitter for news, notes, stats and links to game notes, live stats and more.