Chattanooga Tenn. – Freshman Gee McGhee tallied a game-high 16 points and Chattanooga forced Furman into 20 turnovers as the Mocs topped the short-handed Paladins, 83-49, in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Thursday night at the McKenzie Arena.

The Paladins, who dressed out just eight players due to injury, slipped to 6-18 overall and 3-10 in league play with their fifth consecutive loss and first defeat by 30-plus points since suffering an 83-43 setback at Davidson on January 21, 2009.  Chattanooga won for the third time in the last four outings to improve to 11-15 overall and 6-7 in the SoCon.

Chattanooga, 39-27 leaders at the half, outscored the Paladins 44-22 in the second half and managed a 48-26 scoring edge in the paint.  McGhee hit 6-of-10 shots to lead the way while Eric Robertson and Farrad Cobb came off of the bench to score 14 and 12 points, respectively, as the Mocs bench outscored the Paladin reserves 41-10.

Furman's 20 miscues led to 21 Chattanooga points and the Mocs added 16 points off of 18 offensive rebounds before finishing with a 48-32 edge on the glass.

The Paladins shot just 37.3% from the field and connected on only 4-of-21 three-point attempts.  Senior Colin Reddick and freshman Stephen Croone paced the Paladins with 12 points apiece while senior Bryant Irwin reached double figures with 10 points.  Croone grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and Reddick recorded his 96th career blocked shot to move into a tie with Moussa Diagne for fifth on Furman's career blocks list.

Chattanooga shot 44.2% from the floor and made 8-of-24 three-point attempts.  Eleven different Mocs made at least one basket and UTC claimed 11 steals on the night.

Furman returns to Timmons Arena on Saturday when it hosts Samford in a 4 p.m. contest.

Saturday's game will be aired live on 103.3 WOLT-FM and 96.3 WGOG-FM with Dan Scott providing play-by-play and Clyde Mayes handling color commentator duties.  

Fans can follow live statistics of the game and listen to the live steaming broadcast thru Stretch Audio by logging onto www.FurmanPaladins.com.