The Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball team improved their 2009-10 record to 8-1 with an easy 95-66 home win over Gardner-Webb Saturday afternoon at Halton Arena. The 49ers won their sixth straight game behind double-digit scoring efforts from six different players. The 8-1 start is the best for Charlotte since the 1991-92 season when the team started 11-1 and won the Metro Conference Championship.
Junior forward Shamari Spears and senior guard Dijuan Harris led Charlotte in scoring with 13 points each, Saturday marked the first time Charlotte had six players in double-figures since last season’s 100-80 victory over Youngstown State.
The 95-point total marked the sixth straight game of 80 or more points and the second consecutive game of more than 90 points.
“It was a really terrific team win,” 49ers coach Bobby Lutz said of the win. “We got contributions from so many guys like we’ve been getting. It’s good to see that and good to continue to be able to play guys because you never know what’s going to happen over the course of a year.”
Joining Spears and Harris in double-figure scoring were Chris Braswell (11) Shamarr Bowden (11) K.J. Sherrill (10) and forward An’Juan Wilderness (10) who scored his first points of the season after returning from a calf injury.
“In the first half, I thought when K.J. (Sherrill) came in and we went to our full-court press, that really gave us a spurt,” Lutz said. “We took a lead and enlarged it, and that really made a difference in the game.”
Gardner-Webb stuck with Charlotte in the early-going; and when Harris went down with an ankle injury, it looked like it might stay that way. It was only a mild injury though, and Harris quickly returned. With Charlotte leading 13-9, Harris made his return, much to the delight of Niner Nation. After Harris reentered the game, Charlotte went on a 13-0 run and never looked back on the Runnin’ Bulldogs.
“I knew my team needed me so I just played through the pain tonight,” Harris said of his ankle injury. “I’m very sore right now, but I’m just glad about the win. I knew I had to play through pain tonight, so I had already set my mind on playing through it.”
Charlotte had only 11 turnovers on the game and outrebounded GWU 46-36. For the game, the Niners shot 58 percent from the field and outscored the Bulldogs 56-30 in the paint.
“Obviously Charlotte had too much for us tonight both inside and outside,” Gardner-Webb head coach rick Scruggs said. “We tried some different things tonight because we knew what we were up against and knew what we had to do. Sometimes is worked and sometimes it didn’t.”
All 16 Charlotte players saw playing time and 13 different 49ers scored points. The 49ers will have eight days off before their next game; a Sunday afternoon tussle with the Winthrop Eagles in Rock Hill, S.C.
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