Charlotte 49ers fall to North Texas in CUSA basketball

Terrence Williams scored 25 points on Thursday, but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the Charlotte 49ers’ poor shooting in an 81-65 Conference USA loss to North Texas.

The 49ers shot 43.6 percent from the field in a game where they never led, trailing by as many as 22 points late in the second half. Charlotte (12-16, 5-10 in C-USA) came in ranked first in the conference and 39th in the nation in scoring offense at 73.7 points per game.

Pierria Henry scored 14 points off the bench and Torin Dorn chipped in 11 for the 49ers, who have lost four of their last six games.

North Texas scored 81 points for the second time this season.

“(North Texas) had a lot to do with that (low scoring). They challenge shots and do a great job getting into the passing lanes,” Charlotte interim head coach Ryan Odom said. “The biggest thing for us is we didn’t help ourselves on defense, and when you combine those two, it’s a problem.”

North Texas (14-13, 8-7) had four players reach double figures and picked up its first five-game win streak since March 2011.

Jordan Williams and DeAndre Harris scored 17 points apiece for the Mean Green.

Maurice Aniefiok and T.J. Taylor scored 15 and 11 points, respectively.

The game was never in doubt for North Texas, which jumped out to a 12-2 lead inside the first four minutes.

A few minutes later, the Mean Green ripped off a 13-4 run to extend its lead to 16 midway through the half.

It only got worse for Charlotte in the second half as Harris’ emphatic dunk gave North Texas a 60-40 lead with 9:20 left in the game.

Charlotte trimmed the deficit to 15 with 3:13 to play, but North Texas scored seven straight to match its largest lead of the game.

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers fall to North Texas in CUSA basketball."