The longer it went, the worse it got.

Chattanooga unleashed spectacular redshirt freshman quarterback, the colorfully named Battle Alberson, on Furman Saturday, and the result was a 45-28 victory for the Mocs at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Alberson, from Gulf Breeze, Fla., passed for 277 yards and four touchdowns. He made the most of 15 completions in 22 attempts, throwing scoring strikes of 25, 66, 47 and 25 yards.

Entering Saturday’s game, Alberson hadn’t thrown a pass all year.

Making his first career start, Alberson, a reshirt freshman, completed 15 of 22 passes and touchdown strikes covering 25, 66, 47, and 25 yards for the Mocs (5-5, 4-2 SoCon).

 With the scored tied 21-21 at halftime, the Mocs grabbed the lead for good when defensive tackle Ky Tayo dropped off in coverage and intercepted a pass by Paladin quarterback Trey Hedden and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown to put Chattanooga ahead, 28-21.

After forcing a Furman punt, the Mocs stretched their advantage to 31-21 on a Jude Kelly 31-yard field goal.

 The Paladins cut it to 31-28 when Hedden found freshman Evan James behind Chattanooga’s secondary for a 43-yard scoring strike with 2:57 remaining in the third quarter.

Sophomore Hedden completed 19/27 passes for 296 yards, matching his two TD passes with a like number of interceptions. He was sacked twice.

Following an exchange of punts, Chattanooga put together a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a Markell Quick 7-yard touchdown run for a 38-28 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

The Mocs eliminated any Furman comeback design with a fumble recovery and interception on the Paladins’ final two possessions.

Chattanooga (5-5, 4-2 SoCon) finished the contest with 529-368 advantage in total offense, including 252 rushing yards. The Mocs have won four of their last five games. The Paladins have dropped four of five.

 James had five receptions for 146 yards and a touchdown for Furman to move into a tie for the school’s freshman receptions standard with 50 catches.

Furman (5-5, 3-4) plays host to VMI (1-9, 0-6) next Saturday in a 1 p.m. contest. A victory enables the Paladins to double their victory total, both overall and in the Southern Conference, from last season.

Take a look at the stats here.

A stirring Furman comeback fell short when Troy edged the Paladins, 64-61, at Timmons Arena on Friday night.

Furman rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to pull even in the final minutes, but Troy’s Cooper Campbell and Victor Valdes converted on back-to-back baskets to help the Trojans escape in the Paladins’ home opener.

“We were just a little frantic,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said. “We won the second half by 10 [points], but unfortunately, we hdad dug too deep a hole. The second half looked like us and the team we have to grow into.

“This is a marathon, this is a journey, and nobody [hates] to lose more than me.”

 With the game tied at 55-55 following Cooper Bowser’s alley-oop slam with 3:32 remaining, Furman’s defense produced three consecutive stops to give the Paladins a chance to grab their first lead of the night. Troy, however, forced turnovers on two of the next three possessions with the Paladins’ third chance ending in a missed second-chance opportunity.

Campbell gave the Trojans the lead on a drive to the basket with 1:19 to go and Valdes buried a triple from the top of the key on Troy’s next possession to give his team a 60-55 advantage with 31 seconds left.

Furman’s Asa Thomas and Charles Johnston each connected on triples in the final 12.1 seconds, but Theo Seng and Thomas Dowd each converted on a pair of free throws to seal the verdict as Troy moved to 2-0 and Furman dropped to 0-2.

The Trojans shot just .411 on the night but scored 22 points off 17 Furman turnovers and netted 16 points in transition. Campbell paced Troy with 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting behind the arc while Valdes and Dowd added 11 points apiece.

Furman was held to .391 shooting on the night. After going 3/11 behind the arc in the first half, the Paladins hit 6/13 three-point tries over the final 20 minutes to outscore the Trojans 38-28 in the second half.

 Freshman Alex Wilkins led Furman with 16 points and redshirt sophomore Eddrin Bronson came off the bench to ignite the Paladins’ rally down the stretch with 15 points. Bowser finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Johnston hauled down a game-high 10 boards.

“This is a team that is going to continue to get better,” said Richey. “What other team is playing four freshmen? What other team that has no double-figure scorers from last year on the roster?

“We need games. We need experience. We need game film. I’ve got a ton of belief in this group.”

Troy jumped to a 15-3 lead and shot .500 in the first half to fashion a 36-23 advantage at the break. The Trojans pushed the margin to 42-27 on Campbell’s triple with 16:57 left. An 11-0 spurt midway through the second half, featuring a pair of threes from Bronson, got the Paladins within two points at 44-42 before Bowser knotted the game for the first time on his dunk with under four minutes left.

Furman is back in action at Timmons Arena Monday night when the Paladins host NAIA member Columbia International for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off.

The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and fans can also listen to Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy call the action on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, and via the Audacy app.

Furman (0-2) enters Monday’s non-conference clash in search of its first win of the season.

Columbia International scored wins over Southeastern University and College of Coastal Georgia at home this weekend to improve to 3-2 on the season. Jeffrey Clark II and Will Kelly lead five Rams, averaging in double figures by contributing 14.4 points per game apiece over the first five contests.

The Paladins are 2-0 all-time versus the Rams.

Following Monday night’s home tilt, Furman travels to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to face the Northern Iowa Panthers on Friday night before returning to Timmons Arena on Nov. 19 to play Ohio Christian.

Take a look at the stats here.

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