Charlotte 49ers’ March Madness run ends with loss to USF in American semifinal

The Charlotte 49ers’ second-half magic finally ran out Saturday afternoon as they fell to the No. 1 seed South Florida Bulls in the American Conference Tournament semifinals, 86-64, in Birmingham, Alabama.

After posting a 56-point second half (on 77.3% shooting from the field) against Tulane and a 52-point second half (76.9% shooting from the field) against No. 4 UAB to advance to the semis, Aaron Fearne’s 49ers finally ran out of gas — shooting 34% from the field on the game and scoring just 31 points in the second half.

“I don’t even know what we shot in that second half, but it wasn’t the 77% that we’ve shot the last two days. There’s a bit of madness in March, and we did a couple of crazy things here in those two games,” Fearne said at the podium postgame. “We needed a bit of that tonight against a team like that, but they put too much pressure on you. Credit to (South Florida).”

It was a great effort from the 49ers, who were playing their third game in three days, against an NCAA Tournament hopeful South Florida team, which had six days of rest after blowing out the 49ers 83-60 to close the regular season.

South Florida (24-8, 16-3 in the American) advances to Sunday’s American Conference championship game and will face the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal between No. 3 seed Tulsa and No. 2 seed Wichita State.

“Hats off to South Florida. They’ve had a sensational season and have been unbelievably consistent,” said Fearne. “You could feel the momentum shift our way a little bit, but then they punched us back and were able to push away. I’m unbelievably proud of our group, our university, and all the work our coaches and players have put in.

“At the end of the day, we were picked last in the league,” Fearne continued. “We proved that we weren’t, and I’m really proud of everybody for that.”

Charlotte (17-17, 9-10 in the American) had its opportunities Saturday and held the Bulls in check early in the action. But while the 49ers couldn’t buy a bucket from beyond the arc, the Bulls’ backcourt duo of Joseph Pinion and Wes Enis caught fire.

South Florida’s big three of Pinion, Enis and American Conference Player of the Year Izaiyah Nelson combined for 64 points, tying Charlotte’s team total.

Despite microwave scorers Ben Bradford and Dezayne Mingo having big nights in prior rounds, Charlotte’s backcourt couldn’t match the long-range barrage from Bryan Hodgson’s Bulls. Tired legs left Charlotte’s shots ricocheting off the front rim, with Mingo totaling eight points on 3-of-12 shooting, and Bradford notching 12 points on 33% shooting from the field. Center Anton Bonke led the way for Charlotte with 15 points and nine rebounds but was outmatched against Nelson.

After South Florida jumped out to an early 11-point advantage, Charlotte’s interior presence got three of the five Bulls starters in early foul trouble. That got Charlotte 18 free throws in the first half, and Charlotte made 13 of them.

The Bulls went over five straight minutes in the second half without a bucket, and that allowed the 49ers to cut the lead to just three points as Domani Harrison (11 points) found his stride with consecutive buckets.

But just as Charlotte had a chance to make it a game, Nelson had an and-one slam over Bonke, and Pinion splashed home yet another wide-open 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to 11 as the game clock struck single digits.

The wheels fell off in the game’s final minutes, with the Bulls’ lead ballooning to as many as 25 points and capitalizing on Charlotte’s fatigue. The 49ers’ entertaining postseason run came to an end against a superior team, as the Bulls dominated the pace of play and rolled to the conference championship.

The 49ers’ postseason run

Bonke was understandably emotional after the game, coming up short on the team’s goal. The 7-foot-2 center spoke about the bond that’s shared in the 49ers’ locker room, and why it is so important.

“Fearne is really good at getting a team to really love each other, and I feel like we did. We really enjoyed each other’s company. Every dinner and every meal together were super loud. We always hang out,” said Bonke. “That’s the biggest takeaway. I think we’re friends for life, even though we didn’t achieve what we wanted to.”

Charlotte had plenty of ups and downs this season, finishing right at the .500 mark. But Fearne thought the 49ers were playing their best basketball in March, despite dropping three straight games ahead of the conference tournament.

“You ultimately want to be playing your best basketball at the right time of the year, and our team did that this year, which was awesome. Playing for each other,” Fearne said. “They did that, and you don’t do what we did the last couple of days if we aren’t connected like that.”

What’s next for Charlotte?

Since taking over as head coach ahead of the 2023-24 season, after Ron Sanchez’s unexpected exit, Fearne has posted a 47-51 record. Charlotte has seen the highs of beating a ranked team, selling out Halton for the first time in 20 years, and notching two top-five finishes in the American during Fearne’s tenure. But the lows have also been evident, notching just 11 wins in 2024-25 and extending the program’s NCAA Tournament drought to 21 years.

NIL has been a clear issue for the 49ers, who have lost their leading scorer to the transfer portal four years in a row (Jahmir Young, Brice Williams, Lu’Cye Patterson and Nik Graves). Sophomore guard Ben Bradford led the team this season with 13.5 points per game, making a double-digit scoring jump from just 2.5 as a freshman.

And with new athletic director Kevin White taking over, Charlotte now must decide whether to retain Fearne, who has a $1.5 million buyout. It was a 17-17 season for Fearne in year three, which featured a brief stint atop the American early in conference play and an unexpected run in this week’s conference tournament.

Former players (even ones who have transferred to high-major programs) have been outspoken about their love for Fearne. But it is hard to imagine that with university chancellor Sharon L. Gaber doubling down on the commitment to head football coach Tim Albin, White won’t make a change on men’s basketball — one of Charlotte’s two biggest revenue sports.

When asked about men’s basketball, White expressed his expectation that the program would be good.

“Football and men’s basketball have to be good,” White told Observer columnist Scott Fowler. “And so we’re going to work together in order for us to figure out what the needs are, in order for us to have more success in those two sports. Because those two sports are going to drive and carry everybody else in the department. We need them to be healthy. We need them to be successful. We’ve just got to make sure we put the resources around them in order for them to be successful.”

And looking at Charlotte’s history books, Fearne’s stint hasn’t met the mark. The 49ers were a Final Four team in 1977 under Lee Rose and NCAA Tournament regulars from the late 1990s under Melvin Watkins to the early 2000s under Bobby Lutz.

But Charlotte’s tournament drought continues to age.

This story was originally published March 14, 2026 at 5:48 PM.