Chattanooga 69, Marshall 68

Charge this win to the Mocs.

The Mocs outrebounded Marshall by one. They also shot free throws reasonably well. However, in a game that sounded incredibly ugly with foul after foul called, the Mocs shot too many threes.

But none of that matters, because a charge was called on the final play of the game and instead of a game winning basket for Marshall, the Mocs came up with the stop, and the one point win. It was a controversial call, and I honestly can't say that I've ever seen a charge called on the games final play. Bell took the charge.

Marshall did not shoot threes well in this game- and they did not shoot free throws particularly well either. Marshall certainly dominated the paint, despite not winning the rebounds. The Mocs shot the ball just well enough, and played very good defense in stretches.

Don't just skate over the fact that the Mocs were 12.5 point underdogs. They were 22 point underdogs to Tennessee. The Mocs clearly are improving. This is a team that is supposed to be in contend for an upper echelon finish in Conference USA, which often gets multiple teams in the NCAA. And the Mocs just went on the road and delivered.

Marshall was capable of beating them throughout the night. The Herd kept on trying to pull away, including a 16-0 run in the first half that left the Mocs down ten. But they fought back and hung around- in the first half due to Chris Early's hot shooting. He scored 13 in the first half, which matched his career high in his homecoming.

The Mocs showed a great deal of resilience in this one. They just kept on fighting back and fighting back. And they hung tough. Bell, Saffore, Early, and Wattad came up with huge plays throughout the night and wound up winning. Bell scored 12, and Wattad 11.

The complaint that I had about them shooting too many threes (32 for the game) is partially downgraded a bit. The Mocs were much more patient on offense, and they calmed themselves down. This was huge for the Mocs. If they are shooting threes, that's fine, if they are playing within themselves and not just throwing up shots. And the Mocs did that in this one. They turned the ball over sixteen times, which sounds like a few more than they would like, but only had six in the second half.

The Mocs are clearly an improving team. It is really unfortunate that the Mocs could not come up with the win against Austin Peay at home at this point, because with how they have played over the last couple of games, they deserve to be 3-1.

The Mocs are now 1-0 in the Global Sports Shootout, and Marshall (the clear favorite to finish second behind Louisville) is 0-1. The Mocs now get a shot at Louisville to really make their mark on the Global Sports Shootout on Monday night.

The Mocs are definitely starting to come together. Amazingly, they are 2-1 on the road. Shulman has struggled on the road over the course of his career, but he has it going on right now.

More to follow once I get some looks at the final stats.

GO MOCS!