Basketball: Cats drop third straight conference game

In front of a grand total of 897 in attendance, the Catamounts followed a well established pattern for the season of a digging a deep hole for themselves in the first half due to exceptionally poor shooting, then come roaring back with a flurry of points in the second half.  But in the end, falling short of the the final victory.

Last night, after being down by as much as 19 points in the first half, the Cats pulled as close as 72-74 with 1:32 remaining on a 3-point shot by Brandon Boggs.

That shot was then followed by a 3 pointer by UTC's Ronrico White with 47 seconds remaining on the clock, upping the Mocs lead to 72-77. Chattanooga's Z. Mason then got a turnover from Trey Sumler, and took it to the basket to up the score to 72-79 Mocs. With 33 seconds remaining, Mason's score effectively put the game out of reach for the hard luck Catamounts.

The Cats had to resort to fouling to prevent the Mocs from running out the clock, resulting in a 81-72 final score.

Another well established pattern that stretches back several seasons, is the Catamounts sending the opposing team to the free throw line for an excessive amount of attempts on the charity stripe. In last night's game, the Catamounts sent the Mocs to the free throw line for a total of 39 attempts, allowing Chattanooga to pick up a total of 26 free points, more than enough to bury the foul prone Catamounts.

How are you going to win when you give the other team a 26 point head start?

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