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PITTSBURGH When it came time to stand up and be counted, Charlotte’s Chris Braswell stood tall. Very tall.
As the biggest player on the court, the 6-foot-9 Braswell had his way with the basketball and scored a season-high 28 points to fuel a furious comeback that saw the 49ers rally from a 17-point deficit in the second half to defeat Duquesne in overtime, 89-87, Wednesday at Palumbo Center.
But Braswell didn’t do it by himself as the 49ers (19-10, 7-8 Atlantic 10 Conference) snapped a four-game losing streak.
Pierria Henry contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals despite picking up his fourth foul and sitting out much of the second half before fouling out with seconds remaining in regulation.
Terrence Williams had 15 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists.
Also playing a key role was Ivan Benkovic, who drained two critical 3-pointers – one down the stretch of regulation and one in overtime – and finished with nine points.
Charlotte, which trailed, 60-43 with 10 1/2 minutes to go, took advantage of Duquesne’s sloppy ball handling, missed free throws and porous defense in the waning moments to finally take a 72-71 lead on Benkovic’s 3-pointer with 1:51 left.
The teams traded leads until Braswell’s layup made it 79-79 with 6.6 seconds remaining.
After a Duquesne turnover, Charlotte had a desperate three by Williams go in just a fraction of a second after the buzzer.
So the game went into the five-minute extra period.
Braswell’s two free throws gave the 49ers an 83-79 advantage, but the Dukes (8-21, 1-14) knotted things at 83 on four free throws.
Benkovic’s 3-pointer made it 86-83, but Duquesne’s Qyevyn Winters tied it at 86with 52 seconds left.
Braswell’s spinning layup pushed the 49ers in front for good at 88-86 with 17.5 second to go.
The teams made and missed free throws after that to produce the final score.
For Duquesne, freshman point guard Derrick Colter had 21 points and 5 assists and Sean Johnson had 20 points.
