Charlotte 49ers surge in 2nd half, top Newberry in opener
A primary benefit of coach Mark Price’s up-tempo offense is it allows the Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball team to score in a hurry.
And when the 49ers needed their offense to get going the most on Friday night against Newberry, it did, as Charlotte stormed back from a 14-point second-half deficit to secure a 101-88 win in its season opener at Halton Arena.
The 49ers trailed 67-53 with 12:07 left. But Braxton Ogubueze made a jumper with 11:50 left, sparking a 31-3 run that propelled Charlotte to its first victory.
Three who mattered
Jon Davis: After scoring just four points through the first 29 minutes, the sophomore put the team on his back, erupting for 24 points in the waning minutes of the game.
Andrien White: A member of the Conference USA All-Freshman Team a season ago, White scored 20 points and went 6-for-13 from behind the arc.
Ogubueze: Despite going 2-for-7 on 3-pointers, the redshirt senior finished with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field.
Observations
▪ Any concerns fans might have had about White, who broke a bone on his left foot during the team’s August exhibition trip to Canada, were pushed aside early on, as he made five of his first seven 3-point attempts.
▪ Before facing the 49ers, Newberry defeated Erskine, 87-79, earlier in the day. The Wolves made five-man substitutions against Charlotte to battle fatigue.
Worth mentioning
▪ After being fouled on a layup late in the first half, freshman guard Jackson came up grabbing his left leg. He exited the contest shortly after with apparent cramps but returned to the game just before halftime and ultimately finished with 12 points in his debut.
▪ The 49ers have now scored over 100 points six times under Price.
They said it
“The thing I really liked about our guys is we got down in the second half and guys could have easily dropped their heads. But they didn’t. They kept battling, kept fighting and started getting stops.” – Price on his team’s second-half comeback.
This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 10:51 PM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers surge in 2nd half, top Newberry in opener."