Two teams that are still in the running for the fourth and final bye in the
2013 SoCon Men's Basketball Tournament will battle as
UT Chattanooga travels to
Western Carolina's Ramsey Center on Thursday, February 28th, for their second and final meeting in the regular season.
The
Catamounts won the first meeting in
Chattanooga back on January 19th at one of the most difficult locations in the
Southern Conference for the
Catamounts to win,
McKenzie Arena - by a final score of 90-81. (Read about that game
here)
While both teams need help from others to reach that elusive bye, a loss by either team in this game eliminates that team from the race. However, for the winner of this game, there remains hope that the other dominoes will fall into place, leading to the bye.
The Catamounts not only
need to win this game, they need big-time assistance from their arch rival to accomplish their goal and set up a run at
Samford, the current holder of that bye.
So, what is the help
the Cats needs from
Appalachian State? Simply put, we need the
Mountaineers to beat
Samford on Thursday night, while we take care of
Chattanooga. If they don't accomplish that - and
Samford wins their game, all three remaining schools hoping for that bye,
Western,
ASU, &
UTC are eliminated in this bye race. If the
Bulldogs win, they lock up the bye, regardless of what else happens in the Thursday and Saturday's games. Go
Mountaineers!
Chattanooga comes to
Cullowhee having been on a very similar roller coaster ride that the
Catamounts have been on this season. The $64 thousand dollar question is - which
Mocs team will show up in the
Ramsey Center?
Will it be the
Mocs team that was blown out by
UNCG, 94-68 last Thursday or will it be the
Mocs team that upset
Elon, 72-68 just two days later? Hopefully the answer to that question lies in the
Mocs' win/loss record on the road.
Chattanooga has played a total of only 11 road games thus far this season, but, and this is a critical point, they have won only 3 of those games away from the somewhat friendly confines of
McKenzie Arena.
Chattanooga's road game losses are where some of their largest margins of defeat occurred. The last road win for
Chattanooga came at
The Citadel, back on Jan 10, 2013.
Currently the
Mocs are 12-17 over all and 7-9 in
SoCon play. While the
Mocs are averaging 68.8 points per game placing them in 6th place in the
SoCon, - as a team,
Chattanooga is hitting only 67.1% at the free throw line, a very important stat if you are a
Catamount fan.
Chattanooga has two players currently scorning in double figures -
Z. Mason leads the team scoring with 14.3 ppg, and 7.3 rebounds per game, but is closely followed by
Gee McGhee, Chattanooga's
candidate for freshman of the year, with 12.4 ppg and 3.8 rebounds per game.
This should be a battle to the end, with so much ridding on the outcome for both teams.
Too close to call, but here's hoping the
Ramsey Center gives
the Cats an edge.
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