Chattanooga beats Samford 59-54 to advance in SoCon

Mar 5, 2016, 05:25 pm

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Tre' McLean scored 16 points, Duke Ethridge added 13 and grabbed 11 rebounds and top-seeded Chattanooga rallied to beat Samford 59-54 in Saturday's Southern Conference tournament quarterfinal matchup.

The Mocs (27-5) advance to Sunday's semifinal against No. 5 seed Western Carolina (16-1), who beat No. 4 Wofford (15-17) 88-83 in the second overtime on Saturday.

Dee Oldham added 12 for the Mocs, who trailed 36-31 at halftime.

Chattanooga rallied to a 50-48 lead on McLean's layup with 4:15 to play in the second half and pulled further ahead, 57-52, after Oldham made two free throws.

The Bulldogs closed to within 57-54 on Darius Jones-Gibson's layup with 47 seconds left, but Samford got no closer. McLean and Chuck Ester each made a free throw to ice it for the Mocs.

Christen Cunningham scored 18 points for the Bulldogs (14-19), who missed all 14 shots from long distance but made 20 of 23 free throws. Dakota Quinn added 10 points.