‘Selfish trend’ costs 49ers in home finale

A do-it-yourself approach might have cost the Charlotte 49ers a chance to win their home finale Wednesday night.

The 49ers fell in a first-half hole and couldn’t come all the way back, losing 79-70 to Rice at Halton Arena.

“It was not a very good first half,” 49ers coach Ron Sanchez said. “It was a selfish trend of basketball, which is not like us.”

With 11 minutes gone in the Conference USA game, Charlotte trailed 28-15. Rice had seven assists. The 49ers had none.

“We didn’t have the right mindset,” Sanchez said. “We tried to remedy that at the half, and we did a better job of that in the second half.”

The 49ers (7-21, 4-13) trailed 34-26 at the half, having shot only 28 percent (8-of-28) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. But by moving the ball to teammates better, they went on an 11-0 run early in the second half and caught up.

Charlotte standout Jon Davis, playing his final home game, hit a 3-pointer with 14:57 remaining, putting the 49ers in front 42-41. Rice (13-17, 8-9) regained the lead moments later, but the game remained close until the final minute.

One key part of the game came with about five minutes to play. Rice led 62-60, and on four straight possessions, the 49ers failed to tie or take the lead.

“Every time we got close, we did something uncharacteristic,” Sanchez said. “That prevented us from catching up.”

Finally, Rice’s Ako Adams hit a 3-pointer with about four minutes left for a 65-60 lead, and the Owls held on.

3 who mattered

Jon Davis, Charlotte: In his home finale, Davis scored a game-high 29 points. He added six assists and five rebounds and hit 5-of-9 from 3-point range.

Ako Adams, Rice: All of his 12 points came on 3-point field goals – three of them in the second half – and each successful shot seemed to snuff out a 49er comeback bid.

Milos Supica, Charlotte: One of the 49ers’ promising freshmen, Supica scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds.

Observations

▪ The two teams close the regular season Saturday night at Rice. That will be Charlotte’s 2018-19 finale, as the 49ers will finish outside the top 12 and miss the Conference USA tournament. Rice has clinched the 11th seed in next week’s tournament.

▪ Davis’ 29-point performance gave him 2,085 points in his 49ers career. That’s third on the all-time list, behind Henry Williams (2,383 from 1988-92) and Lew Massey (2,149 from 1974-78).

▪ Davis had six assists, giving him 104 for the season. He and Keith Williams (1983-87) are the only 49ers players ever to have four seasons with 100 or more assists.

▪ The Owls used only three reserves Wednesday night, but they played well. Collectively, Payton Moore, Robert Martin and Drew Peterson hit 12-of-15 from the floor. It was a big reason why Rice shot almost 50 percent for the game.

Worth mentioning

▪ The 49ers and Rice might be Conference USA’s youngest teams. Charlotte started two freshman and a sophomore, with another freshman coming off the bench early in the game. Rice had three freshmen starters.

▪ The Rice game marked the only time this season that the 49ers played on a Wednesday night. They’d played on every other day of the week.

They said it

“I told the guys, ‘There is no failure. There is only growth.’ And we have grown.” – 49ers’ coach Ron Sanchez.