Winners of their past two conference games, the Bucs traveled to Chattanooga on Saturday to face the Mocs, dropping their rival 77-64.
“The rivalry and the history of the game comes to mind thinking about Chattanooga,” said Patrick Good (Johnson City, Tennessee). “Obviously playing on the road it’s another chip on our shoulder we need to have and most importantly another conference game we need to win.”
This season the Bucs have won 19 games and have lost five games. Of their 24 games, the Mocs have only won 10 games. Early in January when both teams first came to a head, the Bucs dominated at Freedom Hall winning by 26 points.
In the first half of their second meet-up, the Bucs offense struggled from outside converting on two of eight from three.
Sophomore Bo Hodges (Nashville, Tennessee) gave the Bucs a lift in the first half making four of his six attempts, finishing the half with nine points.
The Mocs offensively were very efficient making 52 percent of their shots and connected on five three for the half.
At the end of the first half, the Mocs led over the Bucs 33-30.
The second half was a much different story for the Bucs offensively. They relied upon three-point shooters Patrick Good (Johnson City, Tennessee) and Tray Boyd (Memphis, Tennessee) who combined for four of eight from three and 20 points.
The biggest improvement the Bucs made from the first half is their defense. The Mocs went from shooting 52 percent in the first half to shooting 34 percent in the second half. In the second half, the Bucs outscored the Mocs by 16 points.
The Bucs went on to win 77-64 shooting a good percentage from all three key areas. Junior Lucas N’Guessan (De Lier, Netherlands) led the Bucs in scoring with 14 points off the bench.
As a team the Bucs had four players finish in double figures.
