Chattanooga Runs Past Furman in Second Half For Season Sweep

 Chattanooga's Frank Champion being guarded by Furman sophomore big man Cooper Bowser

CHATTANOOGA, TN.--Chattanooga put on another balanced offensive display in the second half against Furman, with five players posting double-figure scoring efforts, which included a team-high 15 points from Garrison Keeslar, while Frank Champion added 14 points, seven boards, and six assists, as the Mocs notched an impressive 85-72 triumph over the Paladins before an energized crowd of 3,751 fans Saturday afternoon at McKenzie Arena.

When Chattanooga scored a 75-71 win over Furman in Greenville in the first matchup between these two three weeks ago, the Mocs scored 48 second half points to overturn a seven-point halftime deficit in a game they once trailed by 16 points early, and in the second meeting, the Mocs overturned a 38-35 halftime deficit to post 50 second half point, outscoring the Paladins by 16 points (50-34) on 58.1% shooting from the field to garner the season sweep, improving to 60-41 in the all-time series. 

In the second half alone, Chattanooga got it done on the defensive end as well, holding the Paladins to just 30.3% (10-of-33) shooting from the field, as all of the sudden, Chattanooga is the hottest team in the Southern Conference.

With its fifth-straight win coupled with Samford’s 66-59 loss at East Tennessee State and UNC Greensboro’s 74-70 home win over Western Carolina, it forced a three-way tie atop the SoCon standings, as the Mocs improved to 17-8 overall and 9-3 in SoCon.

The Mocs, Spartans and Bulldogs are all tied at 9-3 in the standings, however, Samford has wins over both the Mocs and Spartans so far this season. ETSU, which defeated Samford, 65-60, at the Pete Hanna Center back on Jan. 18 to end the Bulldogs’ 18-game home floor winning streak, became the first team to post a season sweep of the Bulldogs since Furman defeated the Bulldogs twice to garner the top overall seed for the Southern Conference Tournament back in 2022-23.

Furman dropped to 18-7 overall and 6-6 in league action, as the Paladins along with every other team in the league are now officially two-thirds of the way through their league slates. The Paladins will play four of their next five games at home, starting Wednesday night against Mercer (11-14, 4-8 SoCon). Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. EST at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Furman will also host UNC Greensboro (16-9, 9-3 SoCon) at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in a noon tip-off next Saturday in another game against one of the league's leading teams and title contenders.

The Paladins fell into a tie for sixth in the league standings with VMI, however, are a half-game back of the Keydets as a result of a 91-82 loss at Cameron Hall to VMI back on Jan. 22. 

VMI improved to 6-6 in league play to match Furman Saturday, as the Keydets took down arch-rival The Citadel, 82-70, at Cameron Hall, garnering the season sweep of the Bulldogs. Furman and VMI will square off in what will be a monumental league clash with all kinds of seeding implications at stake in a couple of weeks from today when the two meet at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.  

UTC also has a crucial week ahead of it, and it could be a week that could go a long way in determining if the Mocs can go on and capture their first regular-season Southern Conference title, as Chattanooga travels to Samford (19-6, 9-3 SoCon) on Wednesday night for an 7:30 p.m. EST tip-off before hosting bitter rival East Tennessee State (15-10, 8-4 SoCon) Saturday at the Roundhouse in a tip-off time set for 7 p.m.

Unfortunately for PJay Smith Jr., his near triple-double performance in a return to his home state would come in a 13-point loss, as he posted 22 points, a career-high nine assists and seven rebounds in 36 minutes of action. The senior guard from LaVergne, TN, finished the night connecting on 7-of-19 shots from the field, including going 5-of-15 from three-point range and was 3-for4 from the charity stripe. 

The Paladins posted 17 assists and for the third time this season, the Paladins had 17 or more assists and lost a game. Furman held a slight 17-15 edge in total assists, falling to 17-3 this season in which they have recorded more assists as a team. 

Smith was one of four Paladins in double figures in the game, as Cooper Bowser added 14 points, seven boards, four blocks and one assist. Bowser finished 6-for-8 from the field and was 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. 

Coming off a Furman career-high of 30 points in Furman's overtime win over Western Carolina this past Wednesday night, the Paladins got 11 points out of Barry University graduate transfer Nick Anderson. He was held in check for most of the afternoon by solid on-ball defense from UTC, as he finished 3-of-11 from the field and was 3-for-8 from three-point range. Anderson also added one rebound, one steal and one assist. 

For the second-straight game, senior big man Garrett Hien provided solid support off the bench, registering a second-straight double-digit performance off the bench, adding 10 points and three rebounds, knocking down 4-of-7 shots from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range.  

As a team, Furman finished the game shooting just 41.0% (25-of-61) from the field, which included a 32.4% (12-of-37) clip from three-point range. The Paladins opened the game on fire, particularly over the final half of the first half, as the Paladins completed the opening 20 minutes of basketball by connecting on 53.6% (15-of-28) from the field, which included blistering the nets at a 57.1% (8-of-14) from three-point land. 

In the second half, the Paladins saw a major regression offensively, as once again the Mocs make the perfect adjustments on both ends, almost completely shutting off the lane for access, and slowing the ball's inevitable movement back to the perimeter with, outside of an alley-oop to Cooper Bowser, Furman's points in the paint being a non-threat whatsoever, making the Paladins one-dimensional on the offensive end of the floor.

Chattanooga's dominance over Furman in two matchups this season hasn't come on the perimeter, despite having two of the best and quickest guards in the league in Trey Bonham and Honor Huff, but rather in the paint. 

The Mocs owned Furman once again Saturday, as Chattanooga outscored the Paladins 44-24 and combined in two matchups this season, owned a 78-46 advantage in points scored in the shaded area. Twelve of those 24 came from Bowser, including three off alley-oop feeds. Hien (4 pts), Ben VanderWal (2 pts), Tommie Humphries (2 pts), and Eddrin Bronson (2 pts) and PJay Smith Jr (2 pts) combined to score the other 12 in the paint.

One of the real positives for the Paladins in the game was the redshirt freshman Tommy Humphries, who logged his first action since a pre-Christmas, 100-75, win over Montreat, which was 12 games ago when the Paladins still had only one loss. Now six losses later, he enters the lineup in a game and changed the energy, as Furman embarked on a 14-4 run to close out the half, including a 12-4 with Humphries in the lineup over the final 4:14 of the opening stanza. 

With Humphries in the game, the Paladins posted their biggest lead of the game--38-33--following a three by Smith with 1:21 remaining--and during his time in the game, Humphries registered a steal, a rebound and a nice spin move and layup off the glass, which put the Paladins up four (35-31) with 2:41 remaining in the opening half. Humphries finished a +1 in his overall effect on the game, and was the only Paladin to finish in the positive among the 10 Paladins that saw action against the Mocs in Saturday's loss.

The Mocs on the other hand, seemingly started cooking offensively with about 13 minutes to go in the game and looked unstoppable at times down the stretch, with some of it due to poor defense by the Paladins, while some of it also was due to really good offense by the Mocs, which included movement without the ball, crisp passing, and of course shooting accuracy. 

As important to all those elements are to good offense for Chattanooga, nothing was more important than how UTC took care of the basketball, committing only five turnovers and allowing the Paladins only seven points from those five miscues. 

On the flip side, the Mocs were able to force 10 Furman turnovers, turning those into 17 points to post a 17-7 edge in the points from turnovers stat. In the first clash between the two in Greenville, the Mocs turned it over twice more than Furman (14-12), and that led to the Paladins holding a 20-14 edge in the points from turnovers stat last month.

One area of alarming lapse by the Paladins in two meetings this season has been the inordinate amount of missed assignments by the Paladins defensively, which has led to uncontested layups on beautiful backdoor execution and screening off the ball from UTC. 

Chattanooga shot 58.1% (18-of-31) from the field in the second half, including 50% (5-of-10) from three-point land. The Mocs shot just 40% (14-of-35) from the field in the opening half, but managed to stay close by shooting 44.4% (4-of-9) from three-point land. Chattanooga finished the game shooting 48.5% (32-of-66) from the field and a blistering 47.4% (9-for-19) from three-point land. 

Free throw shooting was also strong again for UTC, as the league-leader in that category connected at an 80.0% clip (12-for-15) from the line, following up on a 25-of-28 performance in Greenville against the Paladins last month in the four-point win in Greenville. The Paladins were much better than in the initial matchup between the two, as Furman shot 71.4% (10-of-14).

Much like the first matchup between the two, Furman was also blitzed on the glass, allowing far too many offensive rebounds. The Mocs at one point in the second half held a 10-1 advantage in offensive rebounds, which led to a 12-2 edge in second chance points, and later the Paladins trailed 16-4 in the same category before trimming it to 16-11 by the time the final buzzer sounded.  

In garbage time late in the game, the Paladins made up a lot of disparity to make the statistical category look more palatable. 

The Mocs' overall balance this season has been another testament to the coaching job done by Dan Earl, and it has been evident in the fact that all the pressure hasn't had to be managed by two players, in both Honor Huff and Trey Bonham, who have both been supplemented more than adequately offensively, and with Jack Kostel's 10-point effort off the bench Saturday afternoon, the Mocs now have five 1,000-point scorers on their roster.

In UTC's win over Furman earlier this season, Frank Champion, Honor Huff and Trey Bonham all posted 16 points in the four-point win. On Saturday, the Mocs would get a team-best 15 points from Garrison Keeslar, while Bonham and Champion finished the contest with 14 apiece, while Huff added 12 and Jack Kostel 10 off the bench. 

Keeslar finished his day by connecting on 5-of-8 shots from the field, including 3-for-3 from long range, as well as finishing 2-of-2 at the line. 

Champion had the most impressive stat line, with 14 points, seven rebounds, and the stat that stands out the most--six assists. Champion is the kind of big man that Dan Earl loves in that he has a versatile skill, is great on the backboards, and has a high basketball IQ. 

In Champion, Earl has a finished product of what a player like Sam Alexis might or might not have grown into had he stayed at UTC instead of moving on to Florida. Though Champion isn't Jake Stephens, his ability to distribute and his true inside-outside game makes UTC so hard to guard. 

A lot of the credit for Champion's impact has to be given to Champion's former coach and staff at North Georgia College. A personal observation from me is that while I am sure Earl and staff have enhanced Champion's overall versatility that was already well-developed during his time at North Georgia, where he played for four seasons under another Dan--NGC head coach Dan Evans and his staff. 

Champion finished 5-of-15 shooting from the field and was 4-of-6 from the free throw line in 32 minutes of floor time.

Bonham had three steals to go along with his 14 points, as he connected on 6-of-10 shots from the field and was 2-for-2 from three-point land. He also added three assists and three boards in 27 minutes on the floor on Saturday afternoon. 

For the game, Chattanooga held advantages in total rebounds (35-34), points in the paint (44-24), second-chance points (16-11), points from turnovers (17-7), bench points (22-19) and fast-break points (3-2). Furman owned the advantage in total assists (17-15). 

 How It Happened:

Chattanooga would jump out to as much as a 10-point lead in the opening half of play building what was a 19-9 lead following a Jack Kostel offensive rebound and put-back--one of 11 offensive rebounds in the game for the Mocs which they turned in 16 points.

A quick 8-0 spurt by Furman would trim the Chattanooga lead back to two, at 19-17 when Nick Anderson found a rare opening against the Chattanooga defense for one of his three triples of the game. Chattanooga came back to score five-straight points, adding a little cushion to its first-half lead once again, as Frank Champion scored on a layup off a nice head-fake underneath, while Garrison Keeslar connected on a three with 7:20 left in the half.

UTC was leading 31-24 with 4:33 remaining in the half when head coach Bob Richey decided to insert Tommy Humphries into the Paladin lineup for the first time since the Montreat game, and as has happened on several occasions this season, it would be the kind of thing that would end up igniting the Paladins towards the end of the half, and ultimately would see the Paladins able to enter the halftime locker room with a lead.

Furman used a an 11-0 run in less than two minutes to assume what was a 35-31 lead following a nice spin move around Champion and layup off the glass from Humphries, giving the Paladins a 35-31 lead with 2:40 left to play in the half. 

After a Trey Bonham layup in the paint to cut the UTC deficit back to two, the Paladins would assume their largest lead of the half on a right wing triple with 1:21 remaining in the half, taking a 38-33. Chattanooga would score the final points of the half on a Jack Kostel layup, as for the second time against the Mocs this season, Furman headed into the half with a lead. 

Both Chattanooga and Furman came out of the locker room shooting the basketball well in the opening five minutes, as the Paladins utilized the size and athleticism of Cooper Bowser, as he would catch alley-oops from Tom House and PJay Smith Jr. in the early going in the second half, as the two teams traded leads nine times in the opening minutes of the second half. 

Following second nasty dunk off the weakside on a pass from Bowser, as he swooped in to catch a bit of an underthrown lob from Smith to dunk over a UTC defender, giving the Paladins a 48-47 lead. 

With 13:05 left, the Mocs had overtaken the Paladins with a 7-2 spurt to take a 54-50 lead after Champion converted a pair of foul shots, however, the Paladins still would relent and came right back with an Anderson triple to get the Paladins back to within one, at 54-53, with 12:41 remaining.  

However, it was at this point Chattanooga took control of the game and would show the veteran know-how to kill off the game against a solid opponent, which is something they failed to do in SoCon home losses against both Samford and UNC Greensboro earlier this season. It's a sign of how the Mocs are learning how to win as together as a veteran unit that has a lot of wins in different places under its collective belt. 

A 10-1 run, which started seemingly innocently enough with a pair of Keeslar foul shots, extending the Mocs lead to three with 12:12 left. Eddrin Bronson missed a wide-open three on the other end in a bid to try and tie the, and that led to one of the plays of the night, as Bonham converted a beautiful reverse layup in traffic in the paint between Paladin defenders, bringing the crowd to its feet with 11:35 left. He was also fouled by Bronson in the process and he would convert the old fashioned three-point play to increase the UTC lead to six, at 59-53.

After Smith went 1-of-2 at the line on the other end, the Paladins had it to five briefly, but Honor Huff would hit his only three of the game after Smith missed another three for Furman on a rushed shot, which hit front iron, increasing the margin to eight. Kostel then used a bit of trickery to evade Bowser momentarily and by the time the Paladin realized what had happened, Kostel had escaped around the 6-11 sophomore to the basket for a layup and a 64-54 Chattanooga leads with 10:29 left, prompting a Furman timeout. 

The Paladins would never get the margin closer than eight the rest of the way, and Chattanooga would increase its lead to as much as 15 (80-65) with 3:36 left, as Bonham connected on a three in transition. The final sword in Sir Paladin was delivered by Parker Robinson, who made a three with 60 seconds left to set the final score and margin at 13 (85-72).