Lamont Paris stood by the bench, unhappy with what he was watching late in the game Monday evening.
Having witnessed some sloppy play by his reserves, the first-year University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach decided to reinsert his starters into the game, up 23 on Alabama State with 2:32 to play. The final score was 67-50.
"I didn't like how we ended the game from an efficiency standpoint, an attention-to-detail standpoint in what we had been doing that had been successful," Paris said. "There were some other things that were not us, handling the ball.
"I didn't like how we ended the game. I thought we did a great job early in the game, but I didn't like how we finished it."
The Mocs turned the ball over 13 times in the second half, but it didn't matter. They had used a dominant first half to build a 40-14 halftime lead, and if it weren't for a hot shooting performance by the Hornets' Reginald Gee in the second half, the final 17-point margin could have been worse.
The win propels the Mocs (2-2) to the final of the Cayman Islands Classic Mainland Event at McKenzie Arena, where they'll face Jacksonville State (3-1) at 7:30 tonight. JSU defeated Savannah State 86-71 in the other semifinal Monday.
Alabama State (0-5) and Savannah State (1-3) will play in the consolation game at 5.
Makinde London led the Mocs with 18 points, to go along with eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Rodney Chatman had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Nat Dixon had 12 points and five rebounds. For the second straight game, the Mocs topped 50 percent from the field and from 3-point range, making 53 percent of their shots and going 10-of-19 on 3-point tries.
The Mocs are 24-of-46 on 3s in their last two games.
"You can see what we're capable of when things come together," London said. "We picked up where we left off in the last game, but we keep on building trust in each other and trusting in ourselves. With that, shots can get knocked down.
"We have a whole line of shooters; everybody can make shots. It's about making the right decisions, simple decisions, playing together and playing for each other, and that's what we're showing signs of. We just have to keep taking things day by day, one day at a time, and keep working to get better."
UTC had built a 22-point lead by the five-minute mark of the first half and led by as many as 29 points before the break. The 14 points allowed were the fewest by a Mocs team against a Division I opponent in one half since The Citadel to 12 on Feb. 10, 2007.
"We were trying to make a point defensively to sit down, lock down and play our principles and talk to each other more," Dixon said. "I felt we did that in the first half."
The Mocs shot 55 percent from the field and had seven assists on 12 made baskets in the first 20 minutes.
Gee was 3-for-5 from 3-point range in the second half, pouring in 17 of his game-high 24 points for the Hornets. No other ASU player had more than Tobi Ewuosho's nine. The visitors shot 33 percent from the field and turned the ball over 15 times, compared to only three assists.
* Jacksonville State 86, Savannah State 71: The Gamecocks built a 23-point halftime lead and led by as many as 26 in cruising to their semifinal win.
Six players scored in double figures for JSU (3-1), led by Jamall Gregory with 23 points. Norbertas Giga had 14, while Malcolm Drumwright scored 13. Christian Cunningham and Maurice Dunlap had 12 each while Ashton Spears chipped in 10. JSU shot 53 percent from the field.
Dexter McClanahan scored 22 points to lead Savannah State.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.