Led by balanced scoring, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team won its second consecutive game after an 0-3 start, defeating Southeast Missouri State 87-82 on Sunday in Cape Girardeau.
The Mocs are home for their next game, with Johnson University — an NAIA program from the Knoxville area — visiting McKenzie Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff Thursday.
Against the Redhawks (1-3), the Mocs got a dynamic day from their bench, with 39 points coming from UTC reserves.
That included guard Noah Melson, who led the team in scoring with 15 points while shooting 4-of-7 from 3-point range after going 1-for-14 over the first four games. Fellow sophomore Sean Cusano, who started the first four games, came off the bench and had his best game as a Moc, with the 6-foot-9, 215-pounder making all five of his shots for 14 points.
"Any time you can get that production from your bench, it's a lift to everyone and makes things harder on your opponent," Mocs coach Dan Earl said in postgame quotes provided by UTC. "You can easily look at someone like Noah, who played with great confidence today and it was noticeable. It's a little easier when shots are falling, but his impact was crucial and important. I thought Makai [Richards] and obviously Sean also came up big when called upon. It's these kinds of total team efforts, from all of the guys, to really tap into your potential and find out who you are as a whole. Again, super proud of them and we'll continue to work and improve moving forward."
Trey Bonham and Garrison Keeslar led the way for the starters with 13 points each, while Bash Wieland, who also entered the starting lineup Sunday, finished with 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Teddy Washington Jr. had a double-double (25 points, 10 rebounds) with four assists and three steals for the Redhawks.
The Mocs never led by more than 10 points, but they also never trailed by more than four. The Redhawks had a 54-51 lead that was answered by UTC with a 13-2 run to assume control.
The hosts cut UTC's lead to 83-82 with 13 seconds remaining, but Honor Huff and Jack Kostel each knocked down a pair of free throws and Southeast's Missouri Rob Martin — who had a game-high 29 points — missed a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining. Kostel hit two free throws for the final margin as UTC wound up 22-for-31 at the foul line.
"I thought today was a total team effort across the board," Earl said. "Credit to SEMO, they play extremely hard and really try to outphysical you. I thought we did a well enough job in matching that effort to win, obviously, but there's still some areas we need to improve. What stood out today was that we did a really good job at getting to the rim, getting downhill, and getting fouled. Sure, we could have made a few more free throws down the stretch to make things a little less stressful, but when you get to the free-throw line 31 times, it speaks to aggression. Overall, I'm proud of the guys for really earning that win today. It's never easy on the road."
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.