Mocs Fall in Tournament Opener Against South Alabama

(gomocs.com) MOBILE—The Chattanooga Mocs struggled on the offensive end in a 73-54 loss at South Alabama in day one of the Goldie & Herman Ungar Classic. A key stretch to end the first half doomed the Mocs chances.

The Jaguars closed the first half strong. Up six, 23-17, after Justin Brown’s basket around the basket at the end of the shot clock, the hosts went on a spurt. They out-score the Mocs 14-5 over the final 3:56 to take a 15-point advantage, 37-22, into the locker room.

USA’s lead reached its zenith at 22, 50-28, with 16:19 to play on a Trhae Mitchell three. The Mocs did not quit.

Donovann Toatley and Kevin Easley combined on an 8-1 spurt over four-plus minutes to shave the margin to 13, 51-36. Maurice Commander made it a 12-point affair, 58-46, on a 3pt in front of his squad’s bench with 8:28 remaining.

But that’s as close as it would get. The Jaguars held the Mocs without a field goal over the next six minutes. When Commander made his layup with 2:28 to go, it was a 17-point margin 69-52 before finishing at 73-54.

Easley led Chattanooga with 19 points and five rebounds. Toatley chipped in 11 with six boards and two steals. Josh Ajayi led all scorers with 23 points to go with 12 rebounds. Herb McGee added 16 points and eight boards.

The Mocs endured a difficult shooting night. They made 29.8 percent (17-57) from the floor and just one of 16 3pt attempts.

“We didn’t play well, really on either end of the floor,” Coach Lamont Paris shared. “Particularly offensively…we didn’t shoot well. More indicative of that is we didn’t move well on offense which meant there were more contested shots.”

The Mocs get to turn it around quickly. They square off Saturday vs. Southeast Missouri at 4:05 p.m. (EST). SEMO defeated Jacksonville in the first game today.

RECORDS

Chattanooga 2-2 | South Alabama 2-1

SERIES

Chattanooga leads the series 1-2…0-1 in Mobile.

3 NOTES TO KNOW

Check out the full complement of notes at the link above.

• Fourth straight game facing an opposing head coach in his first season. Richie Riley came to South Alabama after two seasons leading Nicholls State.
• One 3pt made in 16 attempts (6.3%). That’s the fewest treys made in a game since a Jan. 31, 2014 loss at Davidson when the Mocs missed on all 13 attempts.
• Season-high eight steals with a season-low five assists.

3 STATS TO KNOW

Check out the full stats at the link above.

• The Mocs made three of their first six shots before going 3-18 (16.7%) the rest of the first half. Inversely, USA was two for its first 12 (16.7%) before their run to the halftime lead making nine of their final 14 (64.3%).
• Thomas Smallwood ended up with seven rebounds. He’s averaging 9.8 boards per game grabbing six or more in all four contests.
• Chattanooga scored 35 percent of its points at the free throw line. The squad made 19 of 25 (76%) on the night.

QUOTABLE

Check out all of what we heard at the quotes link above.

“We were playing better. We were scoring and got some stops defensively. It was a good stretch.” – Coach Lamont Paris on if he felt momentum shifting after Commander’s three.

“It’s yet to be determined. It could be good. You get a chance to move on immediately. But we’re also not going to get to do some of things we normally do. Spend a lot of time on film correcting tonight’s performance. But it’s a chance to move on quickly.” – Paris on if the quick turnaround tomorrow good, bad or indifferent.