Mocs 107, Reinhardt 48

The Mocs trailed 15-12 about eight minutes into the game, and everyone was a little uncomfortable in McKenzie Arena.

But then the Mocs got hot shooting, starting playing a little bit better defense, and turned things into a complete a total rout.

Look- I think we should all be comfortable saying that the Mocs should have dominated in this game. And they did.

But what should not be overlooked is that this Reinhardt team played close against both Georgia Southern and Murray State. They were down by single digits in the second half against both teams. They wound up losing by 17 and 14 to those two teams- which is nothing compared to what the Mocs did to this Eagles team.

What does that mean? Well- it could be a fluke. It could mean that Georgia Southern is really bad, and that Murray State was unfocused. We just don't know. It is a real unknown.

No matter what you think it means about Georgia Southern or Murray State, what it certainly means about the Mocs is that they came out focused and played hard. I guess there was not an overabundance of focus early in the game, but that is nitpicking. There were too many first half turnovers again (eight).

All in all, Bell looked good, and Taylor and Early had huge games. Burroughs had a reasonably good game. Saffore and Jefferson collected seven and eight rebounds. Early had twelve, as they won the battle of boards (are you ready for this?) 55-23. The Mocs shot 52.6% from the field and 41.2% from three point range. Reinhardt shot 25.8% from the field. Really, just unbelievable stats.

One of the most important stats- Troy Cage erupted for 14 points. With Odem out (indefinitely at this point) Cage becomes a very important part of this team. He hasn't played much, and hasn't played particularly well when he has played- until today. This afternoon, he played well. Yes- it was against Reinhardt. But maybe he can be a valuable back-up.

The 17 total turnovers was too many. And I did watch the game start to finish.

The Mocs are back to .500 overall for the first time since they were 2-2 following their upset win over Marshall. If the Mocs can beat Montreat, they will be over .500 for the first time all year.

This was an impressive showing against an overmatched foe- albeit one that had played well in previous D1 battles. We'll have to see if they can keep on playing at a high level once they come back from Christmas Break.

GO MOCS!