Chattanooga beats The Citadel 84-78 in Southern opener

Jan 2, 2016, 06:41 pm

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Tre' McLean scored 18 points, Greg Pryor added 16 points with five assists and Chattanooga held on to beat The Citadel 84-78 in the Southern Conference opener for both teams on Saturday.

Duke Ethridge chipped in 13 points for Chattanooga (12-2, 1-0), which shot 50 percent from the floor and has won seven-straight games.

Derrick Henry scored 16 points on 3-of-11 shooting but made 8 of 9 free throws to lead The Citadel (7-7, 0-1).

The Bulldogs led 49-43 with 15 minutes left. McLean made a jumper to spark an 11-0 run to give the Mocs a 54-49 lead. The Citadel answered with consecutive 3s by Warren Sledge and Matt Frierson to regain the lead with 10:25 remaining.

There were six more lead changes before Eric Robertson and McLean made back-to-back dunks and Chattanooga had the lead for good, 73-72 with three minutes to go.