Charlotte 49ers rally, down Florida Atlantic

The Charlotte 49ers, trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, rallied past Florida Atlantic 70-68 in a Conference USA game Thursday at Halton Arena.

The 49ers (11-7, 5-2 C-USA) broke a two-game losing streak with the victory. The Owls fell to 12-8, 4-3 in the league.

Freshman guard Jahmir Young scored 24 points and had seven rebounds for Charlotte. He led a 13-0 49ers surge in the second half that helped erase a 58-44 FAU lead.

The 49ers went ahead for the first time with 44.6 seconds left on a basket by junior guard Jordan Shepherd, making it 66-64. Charlotte, which lost its past two games on the road against Western Kentucky and Old Dominion, put the game away from there. Young’s free throw with 6.9 seconds left gave the 49ers their final margin and the Owls missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that might have won it.

Shepherd had 13 points for the 49ers, and sophomore guard Malik Martin added 12, all in the first half. FAU got 16 from guard Cornelius Taylor.

The Owls came in shooting 43.0 percent from the field for the season. They were sharper than that early in the first half, making 11 of their first 16 shots and going up by as many as 15.

FAU led 26-11 on a basket by Jaylen Sebree with 8 minutes left in the half. But the 49ers then began to cut in to the lead. k Martin got the rally started with an old-fashioned three-point play. Then guard Jordan Shepherd, the 49ers’ leading scorer, came alive.

Shepherd began going to the basket, scoring four consecutive points. Then forward Amidou Bamba scored twice, making it 33-28. Shepherd finished a drive with a layup with 23 seconds left. When Martin blocked a shot by FAU’s Madiaw Niang as the buzzer sounded, the Owls were left with a 34-30 halftime lead.

This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 9:32 PM.