CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. As the final seconds ticked off the clock Thursday night at McKenzie Arena, Nik Cochran was looking for contact as he drove toward the basket.

With the game tied at 63, the Davidson guard drew a foul on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Omar Wattad with 1.2 seconds left. Cochran then swished the first free throw and intentionally missed the second to give the Wildcats a hard-fought 64-63 win.

"We had four seconds and coach told me I had four dribbles, so I could kind of go the length of the floor," said Cochran, who had six points and five assists in Davidson's eighth straight win. "I saw Wattad coming at me so I just tried to draw some contact."

The Wildcats were in front for most of the game, their largest lead was 13, but the Southern Conference South Division leaders (15-4, 9-0 SoCon) could never put away the struggling Mocs (9-13, 3-6), losers of four straight. "Chattanooga did not give up," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said.

Davidson threatened to pull away several times in the second half, including after JP Kuhlman hit two 3-pointers and a jumper during his own 8-0 run early in the second half that gave the Wildcats a 40-30 lead with 16:43 remaining.

Kuhlman led all scorers with 16 points. Davidson's De'Mon Brooks had five points and 10 rebounds.

Davidson led 62-57 with less than a minute to play when UTC's Keegan Bell hit a 3-pointer. Following a Chris Czerapowicz free throw with 10.0 seconds left, Bell hit a 25-foot 3 with 4.5 seconds left.

"That's our second straight that we've lost by a point," UTC coach John Shulman said, "and now let's see how much resiliency we've got."

After a timeout, Davidson got the ball to Cochran and he dribbled into a crowd that included Mocs Wattad and Ricky Taylor.

"I just tried to get any contact I could," Cochran said.

Cochran drew the foul and there was no doubt about the first free throw on a rare night when the Wildcats struggle from the line.

Davidson came into the game third in the NCAA in free-throw percentage, at 79.0, but it wasn't their strong-suit for much of Thursday's game. Davidson was 4 of 9 from the line at one point in the second half, before finishing 9 of 16.

"We have confidence that down the stretch, when we get fouled, our teammates are going to knock them down," said forward Jake Cohen, who had 10 points.

The Wildcats will go for their ninth straight win Saturday at Samford.