CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Chattanooga's season ended the last two years in the Southern Conference Tournament championship. The Mocs did not come in second this time.
Chattanooga earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament by beating UNC Greensboro 66-62 on Saturday night behind a balanced scoring effort led by Charles Anderson.
"You get tired of coming in second," first-year coach Jeff Shulman said. "We would have been devastated because we had to risk it all."
Chattanooga lost to East Tennessee State in the 2003 and 2004 finals.
Anderson had 13 points, and Mindaugas Katelynas added 12 to help the Mocs (20-10) win their ninth title and first since 1997.
Chattanooga led most of the way, but the Spartans (18-12) had an 8-0 run to cut it to two points with 1:27 left.
UNC Greensboro then made it a one-point game with 14.9 seconds remaining when Ronnie Burrell tipped in a rebound. The officials ruled he also committed an offensive foul on Katelynas after he let go of the ball, and Katelynas made both free throws to seal it.
The Mocs went 5-of-8 at the foul line in the final 32 seconds to pull out the win.
"We were hanging on for dear life," Shulman said.
Chris Brown and Alphonso Pugh each scored 11 points for Chattanooga.
Reserve Josh Gross scored 19 points to led UNC Greensboro, Ricky Hickman added 13, Kyle Hines had 12 and Burrell 10.
Chattanooga was ahead by 14 with 6½ minutes remaining, but Gross hit two 3s and Burrell added another in a 9-2 run to trim it to 57-50 with 5:17 left.
Anderson scored twice inside around a free throw by the Spartans to push it back to 10 and the hometown fans chanted "Whose house? Our house!" But UNC Greensboro wouldn't go away and made the game tight in the end.
Chattanooga was 7-of-16 from 3-point range and outrebounded UNC Greensboro 35-28.
The Spartans were hoping to earn their school's second NCAA berth. Their first came in 2001 after beating Chattanooga in the tournament championship.
"I am very proud of the fight that we showed tonight. Tonight was a struggle for us," UNC Greensboro coach Fran McCaffery said. "We were out of sync offensively all night, but we never stopped fighting."
Shulman, who replaced current Auburn coach Jeff Lebo, shook his fist at the cheering crowd as he cut down a piece of the net. Shulman left the rest of the net for Katelynas, the tournament MVP, who placed the strings around his neck.
