March 3, 2009 by Jordan Keyser | A10CollegeHoops

CHARLOTTE, NC — Richmond’s Kevin Anderson sliced down the lane and hit a contorting lay-up with 8 seconds to play to win the game for the Spiders, 64-62.

Lamont Mack had a career night for the 49ers, with a career high 32 points, as well as a career high 14 rebounds. Despite his stellar performance, Mack was obviously not satisfied with the outcome. Mack had a chance at a game winning three-pointer, but the shot rimmed out at the buzzer.

“I definitely had a good look. It just didn’t go in.” Mack said dejectedly. “It hurts. Me and Charlie wanted to go out on a win on senior night and we really wanted to get coach his 200th win (at Charlotte.)”

The game once again pitted two of the A-10’s best point guards against each other, with Richmond’s Anderson and Charlotte’s Dijuan Harris. In a reversal of Charlotte’s last game against Fordham, Harris was the one who was outplayed on both sides of the ball this time. Harris, who was 4th in the country in assists coming into this game, managed only 4 the entire game, as well as only 4 points. Anderson led the way for Richmond with 24 points and tacked on 6 rebounds.

According to 49er head coach Bobby Lutz, Anderson was the difference.

“We had no answer for Anderson tonight, that’s what it came down to. No matter what we did, no matter what adjustments we made, we couldn’t stop him. He was the difference tonight.”

Despite Anderson’s great guard play, it was a poor ball-handling night for both teams, with both squads having more turnovers than assists. In spite of the loss, Charlotte managed one of their best rebounding games of the season, with +14 ratio over Richmond, as well as a +10 ratio on the offensive boards.

With the loss, Charlotte falls to 11-18 overall and 5-10 in the conference. Their loss puts a trip to Atlantic City for the A-10 Conference Tournament in jeopardy. Their final game of the season is at St. Bonaventure on Saturday. Their postseason hopes, as well as St. Bonaventure’s, most likely will be determined by the outcome of the game.

Richmond closes their season out at home against 18th ranked Xavier on Saturday.

February 28, 2009

Jordan Keyser | A10CollegeHoops

CHARLOTTE, NC - The 49ers dominated the Fordham Rams from buzzer to buzzer, hammering out a 73-55 victory at home.

The game showcased two of the A-10’s premiere point guards in Fordham’s Jio Fontan and Charlotte’s DiJuan Harris, although the duel was rather one-sided. Harris once again dictated the pace for the 49ers and outplayed Fontan on both sides of the ball.

Charlotte (11-17, 5-9 A 10) was led by Harris’ 14 point and 11 assist effort. It was Harris’ 6th points/assists double-double of the season, and the 11th time he reached double-digit assists this year. Harris is the A-10 assist leader, and ranks 4th nationally with 7.1 apg. Fontan came in averaging 15.3 ppg, but managed to net just 9 points and 4 assists.

Harris humbly credited his success to the performance of his teammates.

“You can’t reall focus in on one player when six people score double digits. It really frees everyone up on the court and lets me do my job.”

Among Harris’ 11 assists, he had three alley-oops, which have become a regular occurrence, and almost a staple in the 49ers arsenal. RaShad Coleman caught one such alley-oop with 7 minutes left and threw down a ferocious reverse two-handed jam that put Charlotte up 67-44, and put the hometown crowd into a frenzy.

DiJuan Harris wasn’t as easily as impressed.

“It doesn’t really surprise me,” joked Harris. “We practice that play all the time in practice. He loves throwing down reverses. As soon as the ball left my hands I knew that he was gonna do it.”

Outside of Harris’ stellar performance, Charlotte was led by a very balanced attack, with 6 players scoring in double figures. Among them was crowd favorite Lamont Mack, who had 13 points and 7 boards.

Fordham, (3-23, 1-13 A 10) was led by Mike Moore with 20 points and 7 rebounds, while Alberto Estwick added 12 points on just 4-for-15 shooting.

“Charlotte killed us off turnovers,” said Fordham Head Coach Derrick Whittenburg. “They had something like 25 points off of turnovers, and that’s just not the way you win basketball games. Our margin of error is so slim with our top two scorers out. 16 turnovers? We just can’t afford to do that.”

The win was 49er head coach Bobby Lutz’s 199th victory at Charlotte. In another bit of Charlotte history, DiJuan Harris became just the 3rd player in Charlotte history to have over 200 assists in a season.

Charlotte hosts Richmond Tuesday night in their final home game of the season. Fordham heads to Philadelphia to face La Salle Wednesday night.

Ian Andersen celebrates one of his five 3-pointers

February 19, 2009 | by Jordan Keyser A10CollegeHoops

CHARLOTTE, NC -The Charlotte 49ers managed to stave off a well-balanced Xavier attack to upset the 17th ranked Musketeers, 65-60.

The Charlotte faithful donned all-white in support of their “whiteout” game. Guard Ian Andersen obviously wanted to keep up with theme by being white hot from 3-point range, going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. He lead all scorers with 16 points and had 6 rebounds to boot.

“It all starts with Dijuan. He’s running the show out there, finding players and taking it to the rack. He’s playing smart, being the floor general out there. It really does all start with him. He really controlled the game,” Andersen said modestly.

Harris had 10 assists, marking the 5th time in his last 6 games that he achieved double-digit assists. He currently leads the A-10 in assists-per-game with 8.3 APG. Harris ranks 5th nationally in that category.

And while it all starts with Dijuan Harris, tonight it certainly all ended with Lamont Mack. Despite a very poor first half, Mack scored all 12 of his points in the last 8 minutes of the game, capping it off by hitting a huge baseline 3-pointer with 30 seconds left that put the 49ers up for good.

“Coach had faith in me. I wasn’t really hitting those shots all game long, but he drew some plays up for me down the stretch and I was able to convert,” said Mack.

Coach Bobby Lutz added, “Lamont was struggling, but he made the big shots at the end, obviously. That’s what matters.”

Mack scored 12 out of Charlotte’s 15 points during his scoring streak.

Lamont wasn’t the only one to hit big shots for the Niners. An’Juan Wilderness hit big free throws in the late seconds to officially ice the game, including two with 11 seconds left. Xavier’s C.J. Anderson hit a quick lay-up to cut the lead in half but Wilderness’ clutchness at the line proved to be too much.

Charlotte's student section storms the court.

“The atmosphere was…I can’t even put it into words right now. It’s a great feeling. I can’t remember it ever being like this.” Wilderness said of the hometown’s display of pride.

Despite the tough loss, Xavier had six of its nine players score more than 7 points. Coach Sean Miller didn’t have as optimistic of a viewpoint.

“(Charlotte) is playing their best basketball of the season. We are not playing well. Things need to be fixed and they will be, starting at practice tomorrow.” Coach Miller said in a very brief statement released by the university.

It was an all-around glorious night for Charlotte, which included former star and Conference USA Player of the Year Eddie Basden’s jersey being retired in a ceremony at halftime.

Charlotte improved to 10-15 (4-7 A10), while Xavier fell to 21-5 (9-3 A10). The Musketeers have dropped 3 out of their last 4 games after getting off to an 8-0 start in A-10 Conference play.

The 49ers hope to keep things rolling, as they head to Richmond on Saturday. Xavier looks to end its skid, facing George Washington at home on Sunday.

Charlie Coley throws down a monstrous dunk against GW.

February 14, 2009 by Jordan Keyser | A10 CollegeHoops

CHARLOTTE, NC – It may have been Valentine’s Day, but the GW Colonials certainly didn’t feel the love. The 49ers were dominant on both sides of the ball, delivering a beat down worthy of homecoming weekend.

With this win, Charlotte (9-15, 3-7 A-10) is now back in the hunt to make the A-10 tournament in Atlantic City.

The Colonials (7-15, 1-9 A-10) have now lost 14 out of 15 games and their hopes of making the conference tournament are grave at best.

Charlotte dominated from the start, sparked by Lamont Mack’s 8 points in the opening minutes. George Washington shot an abysmal 30% from the floor in the first half, and managed to score only 17 points. Mack continued to dominate in A-10 play, scoreing 14 in the half and led the Niners into the locker room with a 20 point advantage. He ended the game with 23 points and 5 rebounds.

Dijuan Harris continues to be a great court general for Charlotte, delivering a career-high 15 assists while committing just 1 turnover. Harris has produced double-digit assist games in 4 out of his last 5 contests and is leading the conference in assist/turnover ratio for the second straight season. Despite his great individual performance, Harris remained focused on the team and their aspirations to make it to Atlantic City for the A-10 Conference tournament.

“It was very important for us to make a push late in the season like this. We want to play in the (A-10) tournament,” said Charlotte’s Harris.

Harris had a career-high 15 assists.

Coach Bobby Lutz was slightly more nonchalant regarding his teams postseason chances:

“I don’t talk about those kinds of things with the team, but obviously we needed to win this game (to make the tournament.) I was really pleased with the way we played today. I know George Washington’s record isn’t great, but they’ve played some good teams close. We got out to a good start and built off that.”

Lutz also beamed with A-10 pride with his comment regarding the 49ers upcoming game against 9th ranked Xavier:

“They’re a great basketball team and they’ve lost a few games in our conference, but that’s because we play in a great conference. We’re rated the 8^th best league, but we’re better than the SEC this year, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”

There weren’t many bright spots for the Colonials, but despite the poor performance, all 10 players scored for GW, led by Damian Hollis’ 13 points and 8 boards.

Charlotte hosts 9th ranked Xavier on Thursday. Former 49er star Eddie Basden will become only the 8th player in Charlotte history to have his jersey retired.

The Colonials host St. Bonaventure on February 19th and hope to somehow salvage their season.

harris-coley-mack-press-conference-214

lutz-press-conference-214

February 8, 2009 by Jordan Keyser | A10 College Hoops

CHARLOTTE, NC – The University of Dayton may be known as the Flyers, but the Charlotte 49ers were the high-flying team Sunday, coming out on top 79-66.

Although Chris “Top Flight” Wright is known nationally for his dunking ability, it was Charlotte’s Charlie Coley and Rashad Coleman who delivered the pulse-racing highlights. Coley flushed several great alley-oops delivered by Dijuan Harris, while Coleman threw down two dunks off offensive rebounds. Coleman also added punctuation to the victory by slamming a one-handed windmill with 3 seconds left in the game.

Dayton’s Wright, who many consider a potential 1^st round NBA draft pick, was virtually shut-out by Lamont Mack and the Niners stingy defense, scoring only 5 points the entire game. Wright also committed 5 turnovers and eventually fouled out of the game. Mack’s counter-performance of 20 points may have had something to do with who he was going head to head with.

“They were definitely cocky,” said Mack. “Chris Wright is a great player, and I give him respect for that, but I feel I’m a great player too.”

Dijuan Harris netted his 3^rd straight double-double, with 13 points and 12 assists. Regarding his performance, Harris had this to say:

“They did a good job subbing in guards and trying to wear me down throughout the course of the game. I countered that by using my 4-man to help me bring the ball down the court and picking my spots when they gave them to me. I think I did a good job handling the pressure tonight, and I came out with 12 assists and 1 turnover.”

Dijuan Harris salutes the crowd's standing ovation.

The first half was marked by physical defense. The refs seemed to let the players play, and many possible fouls were not called, much to the dismay of the hometown crowd. The crowd became overly boisterous and unruly. This built to a swell, and the team was charged with a technical foul for their performance. Charlotte swung the momentum back their way late in the half by drawing a pair of charges.

Chris Johnson dominated the first half for the Flyers, netting 13 points and 7 boards in just 11 minutes on the floor.

It was an overall impressive team performance for the 49ers, with timely buckets being scored by number of players. From Charlie Coley’s alley-oop dunks, to Coleman’s put-backs to Mack’s timely 3-pointers, everyone contributed for the Niners.

“It was a great team performance. We really feel like this is the Charlotte 49ers that we can be,” said Head Coach Bobby Lutz.

In all, 9 players scored for the 49ers.

Charlotte heads to St. Louis to face Coach Rick Majerus and his Billikens on Wednesday night. Up next for Dayton is a home game against 9^th ranked Xavier, also on Wednesday.

Press Conference with Dijuan Harris, Lamont Mack, Rashad Coleman and Coach Bobby Lutz

Charlie Coley's electrifying dunks were not enough.

February 5, 2009 by Jordan Keyser | A10CollegeHoops

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With their postseason hopes possibly hanging in the balance, The Rhode Island Rams pulled together late and toppled the Charlotte 49ers, 71-64.

The Rams (16-7, 5-3 A-10) came into the game with an RPI ranking of 63: right on the cusp of being a bubble team. Despite trailing early and often, the Rams rallied behind star Jimmy Baron, who scored all of his 19 points in the second half. Despite controlling the tempo for most of the game, Charlotte (7-14, 1-6 A-10) simply could not stop Baron when it mattered the most.

Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron couldn’t agree more.

“Jimmy really did a great job in the 2^nd half of attacking the bucket. He kept moving off screens and really stepped up. I’m really proud.” Coach Baron said of his son’s performance.

49er’s head coach Bobby Lutz sang his praises as well.

“Baron really stepped it up in the 2^nd half. I thought we played him very well defensively, but he hit the big shots. The credit goes to him.”

The 49ers lead by as much as 11 late in the first half, but an 8-0 run by the Rams to close out the half stopped the bleeding.

“After (the 8-0 run) I thought we were in great shape,” said Coach Baron.

The Rams came out of the locker room firing early and silenced the crowd. A rim-rattling, 2-handed tomahawk dunk by Charlotte’s Charlie Coley quickly changed that. Despite adding several other jams that energized the home crowd throughout the second half, the biggest play Coley was involved in was a possible no-call on a dunk attempt with under a minute to go.

“I definitely felt like it was a foul; I definitely felt a push in the back, but that’s how it goes,” said Coley. “(The game) was really physical. A lot of trash talking and scrapping.”

One of Coley’s other electrifying dunks was an alley-oop from Harris that brought the Niners within 1-point, with only 2 minutes left to play. But like all big-time players do, Baron stepped up in crunch time and stole a lazy pass for an easy lay-up, which put the Rams up for good. He added a runner down the lane only seconds later, which proved to be the final dagger.

DiJuan Harris played all 40 minutes and netted his second straight double-double for the 49ers, with 10 points and 10 assists. It was his third double-double of the season.

Coley finished with 13 points and 7 boards in the losing effort, while Lamont Mack contributed 17 points and 7 boards, nearly identically matching his averages for A-10 play (17.8 ppg 7.0 rpg).

Kahiem Seawright’s 14 points and 9 rebounds complimented Baron’s 19 second-half points for the Rams.

URI heads to Philadelphia on Sunday to face Temple and possible A-10 POY candidate Dionte Christmas. Charlotte faces Dayton and Chris “Top Flight” Wright on Sunday at home.