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Dec. 12, 2009

Box Score

Halton Arena - The Charlotte 49ers posted their sixth straight win, 95-66, over Gardner-Webb on the strength of double-digit scoring efforts from six different players to improve to 8-1 on the young season. It is the 49ers best start since the 1991-92 season when Charlotte opened 11-1 and claimed the Metro Conference Championship.

Junior Shamari Spears and senior DiJuan Harris scored 13 points apiece to lead six 49ers into double-digits, the first time six 49ers have hit double figures since last season's 100-80 victory over Youngstown State.

The 95-point effort secured Charlotte's sixth straight game of 80 or more points and second-straight 90 point game.

"We played terrific today because we got contributions from so many guys," head coach Bobby Lutz stated. "It's good to see that because you never know what will happen down the line with injuries during the season."

Harris and Spears were joined in double figures by freshmen Chris Braswell (11 points), Shamarr Bowden (11 points) and K.J. Sherrill (10) and junior An'Juan Wilderness, who contributed 10 points in only six minutes of play, while adding four rebounds.

"As a coach you are asking a lot from your players when you have a lot of depth because we are telling them to practice hard, but not see as much time during the game," stated Lutz of dealing with the team's depth. "It's a challenge but we tell every guy on our team that they are talented enough to play but sometimes we just don't have enough minutes to spread around."

Charlotte's big men started the game by scoring 13 of the Niners first 18 points. Braswell scored six early points as the 49ers charged to a 26-16 advantage in points in the paint for the first half.

With only a four point lead at the 14:53 mark, Charlotte began to press the Bulldogs, kickstarting a 17-3 run that pushed Charlotte's lead to 18, 30-12, in only three and a half minutes. During that run Charlotte forced four turnovers and converted them into easy layups. At the end of the run, Charlotte was shooting 75 percent from the field (12-for-16) and from three-point range (3-for-4).

Charlotte took a 50-36 advantage into the break, the most points scored by the Niners in a first half this season.

"I was very pleased with our second-half performance because our defense cut down their shooting percentage and we turned the ball over less. Gardner-Webb is a well-coached team that may have been under-sized compared to us but they battled throughout the game."

Charlotte utilized a 15-4 second-half run to put away the Bulldogs. The run started with 15 minutes remaining in the game with Charlotte leading by 19 points and ended seven and a half minutes later with the 49ers leading 81-51.

The Niners only had 11 turnovers in the game and held GWU to 25-of-69 from the field (36.2%) and 31.4 percent in the second half. Charlotte pulled down 46 rebounds in the game, ten more than GWU, including 13 offensive rebounds, which the Niners converted into 22 second-chance points.

Every player entered the game for the Niners for the second-consecutive outing, while 13 different players scored the 49ers.

"It's a luxury to have so many guys to come in and contribute. It's hard sometimes to make sure everyone is happy with their minutes, but as long as we are winning I think everyone stays happy," added Harris. "An advantage of our depth is that with so many contributors it makes it hard for other teams to scout us and prepare against us."

Harris and Phil Jones moved up in the record books against GWU with Harris moving into the career top 10 for assists with 381 and Jones moving into a tie for sixth-place with 89 career blocks. Harris jumped ahead of Chad Kinch (1976-80) and Melvin Watkins (1973-77), while Jones joined Curtis Withers(1976-79).

The 49ers have an eight-day break from action before traveling to nearby Rock Hill, S.C. for a showdown with Winthrop on Sunday, December 20th at 4 p.m. Last season, the 49ers defeated Winthrop in the only matchup between the schools, 70-53, in Halton Arena.