Casey Long silenced the roaring crowd, and then he planted a dagger into the ETSU Buccaneers on Monday.
ETSU had roared back from a 15-point halftime deficit to pull within six points midway through the second half. Chattanooga had the ball, up only 56-50, and the crowd came to its feet and made so much noise that it was hard to hear yourself think.
For a moment, it looked like the Mocs might be in trouble. Then Long let go of a 3-point shot that instantly silenced the fans.
Two minutes later, he nailed another 3 and sent up a scream that echoed through the rafters of Memorial Center. The Mocs were up 65-52, and they cruised to a 78-64 win in the last regular season match-up between the long-time Southern Conference rivals.
“It felt real good,” said Long, who scored a game high 20 points including six 3-pointers. “We’re used to a team throwing a punch at us, and we throw a punch back. We withstood the punch and knocked them out tonight.”
For Long, it was a rare outburst from behind the arc. He had only made 24 threes all season before his 6-8 performance from 3-point range on Monday.
James Anthony, who led the Bucs with 16 points, said that Long’s shot when ETSU was within six points was the real back-breaker.
“He knocked down a big one,” Anthony said. “I think if we could have got that one stopped, it would have been a different game.”
UTC coach John Shulman said that the game was decided much earlier than that. “We came out yesterday on this floor and practiced like a bunch of crazies,” Shulman said. “They challenged us in the paper, and we responded. I didn’t know if we could respond because we haven’t exactly been ‘Big Game James’ this year, but we did.”
The loss snapped ETSU’s three-game winning streak. After the Bucs shot 50 percent or better in those three wins, the energetic Mocs held the Bucs to just 33 percent in Monday’s game while outrebounding them 50-37.
“They’re a tough match-up for us because we’re so fragile inside,” said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow. “It doesn’t take a real genius to figure out that with our team they might hurt us inside.”
Mindaugas Katelynas and Chris Brown did the damage inside. Katelynas had 17 points and 11 rebounds while Brown added 15 points and nine boards for the Mocs.
ETSU will be back in action Saturday at 4 p.m. at Georgia Southern. The game will be televised on ESPN 2.

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