-The Chattanooga Mocs could not overcome Florida State Wednesday night in the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center. The Mocs fell 89-53 after carrying momentum into halftime.
The Mocs struggled early but found momentum late. Back-to-back baskets by David Jean-Baptiste cut the lead to 35-25. Devin Vassell scored on FSU’s final possession before A.J. Caldwell’s 3pt was off the mark to send the squads into intermission with Chattanooga down 12, 41-29.
“My thought going into halftime was we have a chance to win the game,” Coach Lamont Paris shared.
“I felt like if we played well in the first four minutes of the second half, 12 would turn into six or five. Then it’s a game.”
The Seminoles didn’t let that happen. Chattanooga cut it to 10 on a layup by Ramon Vila and drive into the paint from Jean-Baptiste on consecutive possessions. FSU benefitted from early offensive rebounding and finding range to build on the lead rather than allow the Mocs a foothold.
“They have guys who are going to make individual plays, that’s what basketball is,” Paris continued. “You have to play your rules defensively and when you get a stop, you have to track it down and grab the rebound. We didn’t on the first two possessions.
“So 12 goes to 16 and that’s not the message you want to send at that point. From there, we never got into our flow.”
Vila’s layup with 17:37 to go put the deficit at 11, 46-35. FSU scored on 10 of the next 12 possessions resulting in a 20-4 run effectively putting the game out of reach.
Jean-Baptiste led a trio of Mocs in double figures with 15 points. Rod Johnson added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds, while Matt Ryan chipped in 10.
Vassell’s 17 points and eight boards paced the Seminoles. Patrick Williams added 16 with the trio of Malik Osborne, Balsa Koprivica and Dominik Olejniczak scoring 10 apiece.
Tonight was the first of five games in a row away from the friendly Roundhouse confines. Next up is the short trip up I-75 to take on Tennessee on Monday, Nov. 25.
The Mocs then go to the gulf coast of Florida for the Emerald Coast Classic (Nov. 29-30) meeting Alabama State in the opening round with either Jacksonville State or Chicago State awaiting on day two. The tour of the southeast concludes with the Southern Conference opener at Western Carolina on Dec. 3.
After approximately 2,000 miles of travel over a two-week period, the Mocs come home on Dec. 8 to take on Tennessee Wesleyan. Tickets are available on GoMocs.com or by calling (423) 266-MOCS (6627).