There haven't been too many smiles for coach John Shulman and the Chattanooga Mocs since the new year.
A seven-game losing streak marred a once promising season. That's why, 13 seconds into Thursday night's meeting with visiting Elon, the smiles splashed across the Mocs' bench were genuine. Right off the opening tip, Drazen Zlovaric, a big man known for finessing the ball around the hoop, emphatically threw down a one-handed dunk over 6-foot-10 Lucas Troutman.
Forty hard-fought minutes later, cheeks were creased throughout McKenzie Arena as an 83-75 UTC win looked down from the scoreboard.
“I told them after the game that we haven’t blown (the season),” Shulman said. “This is just starting again. So there wasn’t pandemonium in our locker room. They were happy. They were pleased. Hopefully we can build on this.”
It's been a tumultuous 28 days since the Mocs last came out a winner. Injuries to Ricky Taylor (wrist), Jahmal Burroughs (hamstring) and Z. Mason (bruised knee) have thinned the roster. Loud questions surrounding Shulman's job security have become hard to ignore.
None of that mattered Thursday. Mason remained out of the lineup, but Taylor poured in a game-high 24 points and Burroughs delivered an inspired 24-minutes off the bench, finishing with 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Behind 14 second-half points by Omar Wattad and 13 from Taylor, the Mocs outscored Elon 45-34 after halftime to secure the win.
“It takes a man to fight through adversity and when you’re losing you can either feel sorry for yourself or you can get up, put your clothes on and go to work,” said Wattad, who finished with 22 points and hit six 3-pointers.
For 22 minutes of action, from the 12:12 mark of the first half to the 9:12 mark of the second, UTC (10-16, 4-9 SoCon) was within two or three field goals of erasing an early Elon lead. The Phoenix could never push its lead into double figures, despite the potent outside shooting of Sebastian Koch (20 points) and Jack Isenbarger (14 points). The advantage never climbed over nine points.
Finally, over a 1 minute, 12 second spurt, it all clicked for the Mocs. Taylor rattled in a 3-pointer from the wing, followed by a Ronrico White trey from the corner, followed by a traditional three-point play by Taylor. In an instant, the Mocs went from down 59-56 to up 65-59.
Elon (13-11, 8-5) would never see the lead again.
“We definitely played angrier tonight,” Taylor said. “We have to overcome adversity and we did it well tonight.”
The Phoenix still had a chance to extend UTC's losing streak to eight games with under five minutes to go. Taylor responded again, though. Leading by two, the senior followed a pair of free throws with a dagger 3-pointer from the corner to give Chattanooga a 74-67 lead.
Taylor said afterward that his wrist still isn't at 100 percent, but his shooting performance said otherwise.
“The wrist felt fine tonight,” Taylor said. “I’d say it’s about 93 or 94 percent. They’re still icing it and keeping me in the training room and giving me treatment for it. I’m ready. We’re back, I’m back, everybody’s back.”
After giving up 88 points in a loss to Elon on Jan. 21 and surrendering 41 first-half points on Thursday, the Mocs held the Phoenix to 34 points in the second half.
UTC shot 49.2 percent (30 of 61) from the field and hit 10-of-24 3-point attempts.
Zlovaric finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. The junior set the tone with his opening dunk.
"(UTC) played with an edge and it started on the first isolation play," said Elon coach Matt Matheny. "(Zlovaric) finished it."
After the game, Shulman stated the obvious.
“It’s nice to see our kids smile,” he said. “They’ve worked too hard and been through too much not to experience any success. When you’ve been where we are, it’s hard to get out of it.”
The climb will continue on Saturday when UNC Greensboro visits McKenzie.
