Tony White Jr. caught a pass, took two steps and flipped it back to Casaan Breeden, who flushed the alley-oop for the College of Charleston basketball Cougars.
Immediately, the whistle blew. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach John Shulman called his final timeout.
He wouldn't need it the rest of the game. The Mocs had little chance to win with six and a half minutes to play.
The College of Charleston blasted UTC 90-66 in Southern Conference play Saturday in McKenzie Arena with a regional television audience available.
"I made this a big game for a reason because I want to know where we are, and I have a true read right now," Shulman said. "We're in the middle. We can beat them, but we're going to have to got a lot better."
Cougars junior guard Andrew Goudelock led all players with 22 points. White finished with 19 points, Donavan Monroe had 15 and Jeremy Simmons had 14 for South division leader Charleston (11-6, 6-0).
The Mocs (11-7, 3-2), who shot 39 percent from the floor, were led by 14 points from Ricky Taylor. Jeremy Saffore had 12 and Keegan Bell had 11.
"We shot the ball really well," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins, whose team hit 33 of 66 shots. "I wish we would have shot it like that the last time we were in here."
That last time was the 2009 SoCon tournament final, which UTC won 80-69.
"They put it to us in the championship game," Cremins said. "That has nothing to do with it now."
But Cremins said revenge had no role in Saturday's smothering.
"We had a respect factor," Cremins said. "I'm pleased with the way we played."
The Cougars forced 18 turnovers and turned them into 28 points, shot 40 percent from the 3-point line and 92 percent from the free-throw stripe.
"We didn't play to our potential," said UTC point guard Bell, who had six turnovers. "We're very frustrated in ourselves."
The frustration for UTC and the elation for Charleston began early. White hit three straight treys and jogged back screaming in front of UTC's bench. Clearly, from the beginning, the Cougars had the emotional advantage.
UTC trailed 47-36 at halftime and needed a layup at the buzzer to pull that close. The Mocs never pulled any closer than 10 points in the second half and trailed by 25 with 4:40 to play and 26 points in the final minute.
"We had a great run -- we won six in a row -- then it comes crashing down," said Shulman, who later became upset when he missed the postgame radio show due to a media relations error. "We now know where the top is, and we know how hard it is to get there."
Cremins sent his reserves to check in with more than three minutes to go.
"Some of this is unexpected to me," said Cremins, whose team beat then-No. 9 North Carolina two weeks ago. "We, at one time, were a shaky team. I think we're in a good place."
That's first place.