Charlotte Wins 7th straight, 57-47, at Winthrop
Phil Jones had 11 boards, three blocks, a dunk and a key short jumper with under two minutes to play. |
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Dec. 20, 2009
Rock Hill, S.C. - Charlotte won its seventh straight game, picking up a 10-point, 57-47, victory on the road at Winthrop, Sunday afternoon. Charlotte improved to 9-1, its best start since opening 11-1 in 1991-92, with its fifth straight double-digit victory.
"To not play our best yet find a way to win on the defensive end and through rebounding is satisfying," said 49ers head coach Bobby Lutz. "If you play bad and win by one on the road, it's a good win. There's no bad win on the road."
Charlotte shot just 39%, its lowest shooting pct. of the winning streak, and hit just 3-of-19 threes (.158), but still managed to gut out the 10-point win.
"We knew it was going to be a dogfight," said senior point guard DiJuan Harris. "It was a tough road game. We needed it. We played together, hung togetther down the stretch and got some winning plays from a lot of guys."
During a nip and tuck first half, reserve forward An'Juan Wilderness scored eight straight points during a 10-0 run to push Charlotte to nine-point lead, 24-15, with 4:42 to play. Winthrop nailed a three at the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to 28-24 at the break.
In the second half, Charlotte stretched the lead to 7, 39-32 with 13:02 left on a DiJuan Harris jumper. Winthrop closed again to make it a two-point game, 42-40 with 10:06 to play and it was still a two-point game, 49-47 with 2:07 to play. Phil Jones, though, hit a short jumper on the 49ers next posession and senior point guard DiJuan Harris hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to ice it.
Winthrop shot just 31% from the field, the sixth straigh opponent that the 49ers have held under 38% shooting. They also hit only 20% from of their threes (4-of-20) and just 5-of-12 free throws (42%).
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Junior Shamari Spears led the 49ers with 13 points while Harris and 12 and Wilderness scored 11. Junior center Phil Jones added 6 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.
"I thought he made some toughness plays that he didn't make in years past," Lutz said of Jones, who posted double digit rebounds for the second time this season. "I love winning plays and today, Phil Jones made alot of winning plays."
The 49ers play at Old Dominion, Wednesday.
NOTES:
The 49ers have now won seven straight for the first time since 2004-05, when Curtis Withers and Eddie Basden led Charlotte through a perfect 7-0 February that led the 49ers back into the national rankings and back to the NCAA Tournament.
With five assists, DiJuan Harris passed Henry Williams for 8th-place all-time in career assists. Harris now has 386, one more than Williams' 385.
With three blocks, Phil Jones now has 92 in his career, 8 shy of becoming just the 4th player in school history to block 100 shots.
