Chattanooga holds off Georgia Southern 75-66

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Omar Wattad and Ricky Taylor each scored 19 points to lead Chattanooga to a 75-66 win over Georgia Southern on Thursday night.

The Mocs (14-10, 10-2 Southern Conference) led 52-34 after a jumper from Wattad with 15:31 left to play, but a 21-5 run from the Eagles cut the deficit to 57-55 with 10:19 to go.

Keegan Bell, Wattad and Taylor each hit 3-pointers to push Chattanooga’s lead to 66-59 with 5:15 remaining and the Mocs continued to lead, 69-66, with 1:29 left before scoring the final six points.

Ben Drayton III scored 24 points and Jelani Hewitt added 10 for the Eagles (4-20, 0-11), who have lost 11 consecutive games.

Georgia Southern committed 20 turnovers, leading to 25 points for Chattanooga.

Chris Early added 13 points and Bell 12 for the Mocs, who finished 26 of 44 from the field (59.1 percent), including 12 of 19 from 3-point range (63.2 percent).