Davidson basketball defeats Charlotte to claim Hornets’ Nest trophy
The Davidson Wildcats’ men’s basketball team hunted the three-ball early and often in the 40th edition of the battle for the Hornets’ Nest, connecting frequently on the way to a 62-55 victory over the Charlotte 49ers on Tuesday night.
For the first time in the crosstown rivalry’s 51-game history, both teams came in undefeated, and the Wildcats (3-0) extended their early-season streak with another victory against the 49ers (2-1) — marking three consecutive victories against Aaron Fearne’s Charlotte team.
But the evening wasn’t without late-game drama, as the Wildcats choked away an early 18-point lead as the 49ers cut the margin down to two with less than 30 seconds to play.
Charlotte guard Damoni Harrison swished a 3-pointer with 30 seconds on the clock to cut the Wildcats’ lead to two points, but as it was for much of the second half, the 49ers could not convert at the free-throw line and couldn’t connect when it mattered most.
Charlotte missed nine free throws (11 of 20) on the night, including missing eight in the second half, and what felt like nearly every attempt late in the action.
An ugly opening half, which featured the teams combining for 6-of-24 shooting in the game’s first 10 minutes, saw the visiting Wildcats catch fire from beyond the arc. Hunter Adam and Parker Friedrichsen, Davidson’s leading scorers, tied the 49ers’ first-half scoring total (19 points). The pair finished with 30 total points on 63% shooting from beyond the arc.
Davidson led for nearly 39 minutes of action, answering each Charlotte comeback attempt run with a flurry of its own, quieting a Halton Arena crowd of 3,712. The 49ers had plenty of opportunities late in the game, but self-inflicted wounds, missed free throws, and late-game turnovers cost Fearne’s group.
And with the game hanging in the balance, Davidson’s Adam took an ill-advised 3-pointer, rather than holding the ball or dishing to a teammate for potential game-winning free throws.
But Adam did what he knows best and pulled up from beyond the arc, sinking the 49ers’ comeback attempts to keep the Hornets’ Nest trophy in Davidson’s locker room for another year — starting Wednesday.
First, it’ll spend an evening on head coach Matt McKillop’s nightstand.
“We keep it in our locker room. It stays on my nightstand tonight, just like it was last year,” McKillop said. “My kids, when they wake up, they are like ‘what is this?’ I’ve been a part of this as a fan, player, assistant coach, and head coach for such a long time. That means a lot to me, that trophy.”
Davidson Wildcats’ next great shooting duo?
It’s certainly a small sample size, just three games into his junior season, but Hunter Adam put on his best Steph Curry impression in the first half and near the finish — although Curry never left Charlotte’s campus with a victory in his Wildcats tenure.
After missing his first attempt off the bench, Adam connected three straight triples to put the Wildcats out front by double digits, where they would reside for much of the game.
Adam entered the night shooting 61.5% from beyond the arc (8-of-13 on the season) and continued his early-season brilliance, moving off the ball and taking in rhythm threes in the flow of the game. The 6-foot-7 wing from New Zealand wasn’t forcing his shot, like many assume with a Curry comparison, but hunting his opportunities in the flow of McKillop’s offense.
Until the last chance of the night, which caused McKillop to put his hands on his head as what was an ill-advised, but game-winning shot left Adam’s fingertips.
“Crazy shot taken. We joked that we made a lot of really foolish decisions throughout the game, and maybe the most foolish one that was made ended up winning the game for us. Hunter (Adam) is so lights out right now that I’m not going to tell him to not shoot a shot, except for tomorrow when I tell him not to do that,” McKillop said with a smile.
Fearne added: “I saw coach McKillop’s (reaction). Hunter Adam is playing unbelievably right now. You’ve got to have some (guts) to make those shots. I’m happy for him as a fellow countryman.”
And when Adam cooled off after halftime, Friedrichsen picked right up. Friedrichsen, a Wake Forest transfer, was among the trio of Wildcats in double figures, connecting on three triples and dealing a team-high three assists in the win.
Friedrichsen, recruited heavily by the Wildcats out of high school, played two seasons for the Demon Deacons before hitting the portal and landing with McKillop’s 2025-26 squad.
“What we’ve seen, he’s the player we believed he could be when we recruited him (out of high school), and we recruited him heavily,” McKillop said in October. “I think in the back of his mind, there was always a (thought) Davidson could have been the right place.”
The backcourt duo combined to shoot seven of 11 from beyond the arc, quieting Halton’s crowd early and often. And Adam ended the game in Wildcats fashion, sinking the team’s 10th and final three to end the game.
But when asked about the duo, McKillop elected to talk about the entire backcourt, making play-time decisions challenging this early in the season with a brand new roster.
“You can talk about Parker (Friedrichsen) and the big shot he made, the threes that he made to get us going, and Hunter (Adam), obviously, was stellar throughout,” said McKillop. “Josh Scovens went in there and broke apart their zone, made two quick baskets and they stopped playing their zone, which is really what broke our rhythm and let them get back in the game.
“But the guy I want to talk about is Nick Coval. He was so darn solid, so tough. Making winning plays, finishing at the rim, and fighting his tail off defensively. We went 12 deep, and everybody was on the stat sheet,” McKillop continued. “We played eight guys in the final two minutes of the game. Last year we played eight guys (total). We’ve got guys.”
Charlotte 49ers’ slow start, slow offense
Through the game’s first 10 minutes, the 49ers mustered just four points on 2-of-14 from the field. The Wildcats weren’t much better to open the action, allowing Charlotte to live within striking distance early — and then Adam and Friedrichsen happened.
The Wildcats opened up a 15-point lead in the first half, more than doubling Charlotte’s point total, but Fearne’s group fought back to close the first 20 minutes, connecting on a corner three ball and Bonke slamming home a dunk as the buzzer sounded to trim the lead to 10 points at the break.
After getting off to a hot start from 3-point range to open the season, entering the game shooting over 46% from long distance as a team, the chilly weather crept into Halton, cooling off the green and white. At one point, Davidson had connected on eight times the number of threes as Charlotte, and the 49ers finished the night just 29% on six of 21 shooting from downtown.
Three of those long-range makes came from Domani Harrison, who got Charlotte’s offense going after the early struggles, and caught fire late, keeping Charlotte in the game with consecutive three-balls in the final minutes.
49ers’ Harrison and Bradford were hot and cold
Without Harrison’s late-game heroics, Charlotte would’ve been in the single-digit percentages from beyond the arc. And Ben Bradford’s jumper was nowhere to be found after flashing in the opener.
After playing a career-best game to tip off the season, pouring in 31 points against Indiana State, Bradford has gone cold from beyond the arc in the past two games, not attempting a three against Tennessee Tech and missing all five of his attempts on Tuesday night.
Charlotte is going to need Bradford to look more like the surprising star we saw in the opener to get this team back to competing in the American Conference this season. And Harrison must play more if this team is to reach its peak. Harrison tied the team high with 13 points (50% from the field) in less than 12 minutes of play.
“It’s a learning experience, of course — coming from an American head coach to a European head coach,” Harrison said of the transition to Charlotte. “Learning a new system is tough, but I’ve got to trust (Fearne). I’ve got to pick up all the details and ask as many questions as possible.”
Fearne added: “(Domani) can be a game-changer for us. It’s just a work in progress.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2025 at 9:40 PM.