Washington drops Charlotte 49ers for 7th place at Atlantis tournament
Washington’s Huskies took the seventh-place game in the Battle 4 Atlantis, beating the Charlotte 49ers 71-66 Friday at Imperial Arena.
Charlotte, which lost all three games in the tournament, drops to 1-5 for the season. The Huskies improve to 4-2.
The 49ers, who lost 102-47 against Michigan on Thursday, recovered against the Huskies and led for much of the game, including 38-35 at halftime. But after Charlotte took a 46-41 lead with 14 minutes, 37 seconds left on a Bernard Sullivan jumper, the 49ers went cold. Washington took off on a 24-10 run, and the 49ers couldn’t recover.
The 49ers return to Halton Arena to face Davidson for the Hornets Nest Trophy on Tuesday. Washington’s next game is Dec. 6 at home against Cal State Fullerton.
Three who mattered
Bernard Sullivan: Looking to be Charlotte’s go-to guy on offense, scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
Joseph Uchebu: 49ers big man continued his strong work on the boards, grabbing 18 rebounds.
Andrew Andrews: Washington’s only non-freshman starter led the Huskies with 30 points and 13 rebounds.
Observations
▪ Charlotte clearly played its best first half of the season, leading 38-35. The 49ers shot 15-of-30 from the field (they made only 15 baskets the entire game Thursday against Michigan) and outrebounded the Huskies 21-18.
▪ The 49ers won’t get much sympathy from Washington about playing young guys. The Huskies have four freshmen in their starting lineup, with the only upperclassman being senior Andrew Andrews.
▪ Charlotte got rid of the foul taste left from its performance against Michigan with a spirited effort Friday. The 49ers will find a lot of positives from this one.
Worth Mentioning
▪ Little-used substitute Cameron Pappas made his second appearance in two games with starter Braxton Ogbueze in foul trouble in the first half.
▪ 49ers radio play-by-play man Matt Swierad missed the game so he could travel to Houston to call Saturday’s Charlotte-Rice football game. Swierad was replaced by Tom Hudson, who handles those duties for Gonzaga, which had played earlier in the day. Charlotte and Gonzaga are both clients of IMG College, which handles the schools’ multimedia and sponsorships.
▪ Syracuse beat No. 25 Texas A&M, 74-67 in the tournament championship game. The Orange’s Michael Gbinije was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Joining Gbinije on the all-tournament team were Gonzaga’s Kyle Wiltjer, Texas A&M’s Danuel House and Jalen Jones and Syracuse’s Trevor Cooney.
They said it
“Our guys finished well. Andrew (Andrews) was sensational.” -- Washington coach Lorenzo Romar.
“I thought we grew up a little bit today.” -- Charlotte coach Mark Price.
“After a (55)-point loss like (Thursday), we could have come apart and folded, or we could we come together and fix the problem. Even though we lost -- and losing is never good -- this was a step in the right direction.” -- Charlotte guard Jon Davis.
This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 11:48 PM with the headline "Washington drops Charlotte 49ers for 7th place at Atlantis tournament."