EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Connecting on 7 of his 11 attempts, Tanner Cuff recorded a career-high 18 points as the University of Evansville men's basketball team fell to Chattanooga by a 75-67 final on Thursday night at the Ford Center.
Box Score
Cuff's effort bested his previous high of 16 points, which came against UIC last season. The senior knocked down four of his six 3-point tries. Entering the game, he had three triples in the first nine games. Tayshawn Comer finished with 15 points while Gabriel Pozzato finished with 12.
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"We still have not put a full 40 minutes together and need to work on executing better. We've done that in practice but it has not translated to the game at the point," UE head coach David Ragland exclaimed.  "In the second half, we made a nice push and kept battling, but our execution across the board needs to be cleaner."
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Three-point shooting was the difference in the first half as the Mocs connected on nine of their 17 attempts while holding a 41-29 halftime advantage. Tanner Cuff opened the scoring while Cam Haffner's first basket gave UE a 5-2 lead. Excellent ball movement by the Purple Aces resulted in a basket by Kaia Berridge, which gave UE a 9-5 edge four minutes into the contest.
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Over the next five minutes, Chattanooga took control, scoring 12 in a row to go up 17-9. It was the outside shooting that accounted for the full scoring run as they connected on four out of five attempts. Connor Turnbull's field goal at the 11:14 mark ended the run and it was Turnbull helping out once again as his bucket with 8:40 on the clock made it a 5-point game at 22-17.
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With the UTC lead still at five inside of seven minutes remaining, the Mocs extended their lead back out to 11 before a basket at the buzzer sent them into the break with a 41-29 advantage as they shot 51.6% in the stanza. Cuff led UE with eight points in the half, knocking down a pair of triples as UE looked to rally back.
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Tayshawn Comer and Gabriel Pozzato knocked down early triples to open the half, but the Mocs countered each time and held a 51-39 lead with 16:23 remaining. That is when Evansville made its move. Hitting six of their next eight attempts, the Aces got back within two. With 10:17 left, it was Michael Day capping a 13-0 run that gave UE its first lead since the opening period at 52-51.
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Seven in a row put Chattanooga back in front with 7:33 left as they retook a 58-52 lead. As the contest entered its final five minutes, a triple from Pozzato cut the deficit to three (60-57). The triples continued to drop for UTC as three more put them up 71-60 inside of the 2-minute mark. Evansville never gave up as Josh Hughes hit a triple and two free throws to cut back into the deficit. With 34 ticks left, Comer forced a steal and converted a basket to make it a 71-67 game.
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Down the stretch, the Mocs fended off the challenge to finish with the 75-67 win. Trey Bonham led all players with 22 points on an 8-of-12 shooting effort. UTC shot 50% on the night while holding UE to 44.4%. They also outrebounded the Aces by a 31-29 margin.
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UE takes to the road next week to face UT Arlington and Ball State.
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