CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Three University of Maine players combined for 44 points, but it wasn’t enough against the balanced scoring and deeper bench of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga as the Mocs posted a 90-75 men’s basketball victory in the first round of the Dr. Pepper Classic.

The Mocs raced out to a big lead in the first half, took a 22-point lead into halftime, and beat back a late Maine rally to hand the Black Bears their eighth loss in 11 games.

Alphonso Pugh had a double-double for the 7-6 Mocs with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 forward also had three assists, a block, and a steal. Keddric Mays led all scorers with 22 points in 37 minutes. The 6-foot junior guard shot 7-for-13 from the field overall and 6-for-11 from 3-point range.

Casey Long contributed 18 points for UTC on 6-for-10 shooting and helped lead an impressive 52.5 percent shooting effort from the field for the Mocs in the game.

“They just had an awesome shooting effort in the first half tonight,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward, referring to UTC’s 60 percent shooting (21-for-35). “They got off to a great start shooting the ball, especially from 3-point range, which has not been their strength most of this season.”

The Mocs shot 40 percent from 3-point range in the game, barely outrebounded Maine 35-32 overall, and committed only 10 turnovers to Maine’s 20.

Maine made a run late in the game, cutting a 20-point lead to 12 with five minutes left, but Mays hit his final 3-pointer to make it 79-64 with 4:30 to play and the Black Bears, who were saddled with severe foul trouble, weren’t able to get any closer again.

Maine point guard Rashard Turner, leading scorer Ernest Turner, and fellow guard Jon Sheets each had four fouls with five minutes to go. Rashard Turner fouled out with 31/2 minutes to go. All five of his fouls came in the second half.

“When you’re on other people’s courts sometimes, you have to be more careful in how aggressive you are. We got in foul trouble,” Woodward said of the foul discrepancy. “I wouldn’t say it was called any differently in terms of style. I would say they had a lot more free throws, though.”

The Mocs had 33 total foul shot attempts to Maine’s seven and canned 18 of them. Maine hit six.

“I’m happy with the way we came back, but I don’t think we put together a 40-minute effort,” Woodward said. “I like the way we responded. I don’t really credit [the first-half start] to the layoff. They were just very physical and pretty deep.”

Maine was led by Ernest Turner, who had 18 points and four assists. Sheets had 12 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Freshman forward Philippe Tchekane Bofia had 14 points, but only four rebounds.

The win was UT-Chattanooga’s 14th Dr. Pepper Classic opening-round victory in the last 15 years. The Mocs will take on Howard in the 8 p.m. championship game tonight with Maine meeting a solid Mercer squad at 5:30.

“I’m a little surprised Howard won that game,” said Woodward. “Mercer has some very good players, a big frontcourt, and a very good 3-point shooter, so we have our work cut out for us again.”

MOCS 90, BLACK BEARS 75

Maine (3-8) Chattanooga (7-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Tchkn Bfia 6 9 2 2 14 Pugh 8 11 18

Ahvnniemi 2 3 0 0 4 Anderson 2 9

R.Turner 3 7 0 0 8 Mays 7 13 22

E.Turner 8 16 0 0 18 Hood 0 0 0

Sheets 4 12 0 0 12 Long 6 10 18

Bruff 2 3 0 0 4 Crouch 2 3 5

Hight 0 1 2 2 2 Cherry 2 8 5

Petkus 1 3 2 3 5 Herring 1 3 2

Cavnaugh 4 6 0 0 8 Doaks 2 5 6

Harknell 0 0 0 0 0 Hartwell 2 5

Totals 30 60 6 7 75 Totals 32 61 18 33 90

Maine 31 75

Tenn.-Chattanooga 53 90

3-pt. goals – Maine (9-29): Sheets 4-10, R. Turner 2-6, E. Turner 2-8, Petkus 1-3, Cavanaugh 0-2; Tenn.-Chattanooga (8-20): Mays 6-11, Cherry 1-3, Doaks 1-3, Pugh 0-1, Long 0-2

Attendance: 4,119