Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Mocs Top Spartans, 58-45

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A 21-2 run by Chattanooga to open the second half erased a six-point halftime deficit and lifted the Mocs to a 58-45 win over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference men's basketball action at McKenzie Arena on Monday night.

The win was the fifth straight for Chattanooga, which moved to 10-6 overall and 2-1 in SoCon play. UNCG dropped to 3-13 overall, 2-3 in league play.

After shooting just 27 percent (7-of-26) in the opening half, the Mocs hit eight of their first 10 from the floor to begin the second half in the decisive run. The Spartans burned three timeouts in the run, which spanned the first seven minutes of the second half, but couldn't cool the home team off. Meanwhile, UNCG couldn't seem to get back on track as it missed 11 of its first 13 to open the second half.

After having six players in double figures in UNCG's 88-78 win over Furman on Saturday, the Spartans didn't have a player in double figures until the final 3:20 of Monday night's game. Brandon Evans finished the night as the only Spartan in double figures with 10 points.

Ben Stywall became the 18th player in school history to record 1,000 career points. He had a tough night shooting from the field, however, going just 2-for-11 from the floor and finishing with seven points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Patterson led Chattanooga with 14 points, including four three-pointers. Ricky Taylor chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Spartans used a 9-4 run, sparked by five straight points by freshman Kyle Randall, to open up a seven-point advantage, 13-6, and force Chattanooga to call a timeout with 10:36 left in the first half. The Mocs missed 11 of their first 13 from the floor to open the game and UNCG, frustrating the Mocs with its switching of defenses, was able to limit Chattanooga to one shot most of the time.

Chattanooga closed the margin to two with a quick 6-0 spurt, capped off by a three-point play by Sam Watson. But UNCG managed to stretch the lead back to six and took a 26-20 lead into the intermission.

Chattanooga scored the first 13 points of the second half including a pair of Ty Patterson three-pointers from the left corner and the left wing to give the Mocs their first lead of the night at 33-26. That began the 21-2 run that extended the lead to 41-28 before a Randall jumper with 12:32 left.

But the Spartans couldn't get back to within single digits the rest of the way, shooting just 7-of-32 from the floor in the second half and finishing at just 26 percent from the field for the game.