Charlotte 49ers top UAB in Conference USA opener

The Charlotte 49ers, playing without their leading scorer, won their Conference USA opener Thursday, scratching out a 51-44 victory against Ala.-Birmingham at Halton Arena.

The 49ers, who shot just 37 percent from the field, got 18 points from freshman guard Jahmir Young, who also added three rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Charlotte (7-5. 1-0 C-USA) was without junior guard Jordan Shepherd, who missed the game with a hamstring injury. Shepherd was averaging 15.4 points, 3.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds. 49ers coach Ron Sanchez said he’d know more Friday about whether Shepherd will be able to return for Charlotte’s home game Saturday against Middle Tennessee.

Thursday, however, was about Young, who hit two layups — actually underhanded scoops — in traffic to give the 49ers the lead late in the game. The second scoop, with the shot clock expiring, gave the 49ers a 47-43 lead with a minute left. Malik Martin hit four consecutive free throws to seal the victory.

“We opened up conference play with a little bit of adversity,” Sanchez said. “(Not having Shepherd) was definitely not part of the plan. Not having Shepherd on the floor raised our level of concern because he’s such a big part of what we do.

“So I challenged Jahmir to grow up a little. Look at his stat line, you can see he had a phenomenal game.”

Said Young: “It was unfortunate Shep was out, so somebody had to step up. As a team, we just wanted to play as a group and play strong.”

The Blazers’ 44 points tied for the fewest allowed by Charlotte this season (the 49ers held Md.-Eastern Shore to the same number in December). But this was a conference opener and it meant a whole lot more.

“We knew we weren’t going to get many easy baskets today,” Sanchez said. “But we defended well. (Allowing) 22 points in the first half and 22 points in the second half: I’ll take that any time, any day against anybody.”

The 49ers managed to stay in the game during the first half despite scoring just one basket during one nine-minute stretch. The Blazers jumped to a 20-15 lead over that span, which ended for the 49ers when Young hit a 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 8 seconds left in the half.

The first half ended with Young making a steal at halfcourt, but missing a layup that would have given the 49ers a three-point lead. Instead, Charlotte led 23-22 at halftime.

The 49ers forced 18 Blazers turnovers, scoring 19 points off them.

Tavin Lovan led UAB (9-5, 0-1) with 11 points.

Next up for the 49ers is Saturday’s game against Middle Tennessee (4-10, 0-1), which lost its league opener Thursday at Old Dominion. Charlotte won’t play again for another week after that, hosting ODU on Jan. 11.

“It’s really important to protect home court if you want to achieve anything,” Sanchez said. “I know it was one game, but it was seriously important for us to win this one.”

And one

The game matched teams that play stingy defense but also are limited offensively. Charlotte entered the game averaging 69.8 points (ninth in C-USA), while allowing 63.2 (fifth in the league). UAB was scoring just 67.2 points per game (tied for 13th) and was allowing 61.3 (second in the league behind Louisiana Tech).

Lane violation

The 49ers struggled on the offensive glass in the first half, not getting their lone offensive rebound of the first half until 3:28 remained. That’s a problem when you’re shooting 38 percent as Charlotte did in the first half.

UAB ultimately outrebounded the 49ers 39-23.

ICYMI

The 49ers entered the game allowing opponents 68.7 points per game, a more than 11-points-per-game improvement from last season, the first under coach Ron Sanchez’s “pack” defensive system.

Making sense of the numbers

2: Blocks by Charlotte guard Malik Martin, both coming at crucial times in the second half.

9: Charlotte turnovers (four in the second half).

2: Fast break points by both teams.

This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 9:17 PM.