Behind another strong performance for freshman Chris Braswell and a stellar night from Shamari Spears, the Charlotte 49ers blew past undersized Winston-Salem State 94-52, Tuesday night.
Braswell went a perfect 7-7 from the field, scored 16 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. The fantastic frosh now has 29 rebounds combined over the last two games and passed the likes of Cornbread Maxwell, Kevin King, Rodney White and Curtis Withers with his fourth double-double of the season. Spears added 17 points for Charlotte (7-1), who continue to power past teams with their deadly inside game.
“Obviously, I’m very pleased with the way we played,” 49ers head man Bobby Lutz said. “In years past, it may have been a little bit of a danger game coming off a big win. But this team’s got a lot of focus. Even though this was a game we expected to win, I don’t think we took them for granted at all.”
Behind five early points in the paint from Braswell, Charlotte went on a 9-0 run to begin the game and never looked back. In Saturday’s win over Louisville, Spears was shut down and the 49ers relied on their prominent outside shooters Shamarr Bowden and Derrio Green to knock down 3-pointers. Tonight was a different story though, as Charlotte scored at will against the Rams’ undersized big men and controlled the boards.
For the game, Charlotte held a 50-27 edge in rebounding and outscored the Rams’ bench 38-9. Poor shooting and an inability to get the ball on the inside prevented the Rams from keeping this one close. Lamar Monger led WSSU in scoring with 14 points while Paul Davis added 12 points and seven rebounds.
“We just really put an emphasis in practice in boxing out more and being physical,” Lutz said of the huge rebounding edge. “In our guards chasing, you know as good as our post-rebounding was, Dijuan (Harris) had four defensive rebounds and besides Chris (Braswell), that’s as many as anybody got.”
The 49ers focused on taking high-percentage shots from inside the paint in the first half to build a 43-22 lead at the break. Overall, Charlotte shot 57 percent in the first half, going just 1-6 from behind the arc. Following the strong performance in Louisville on Saturday, the guard duo of Bowden and Green was held in check, combining for only six points on the night.
In the second half, Charlotte continued to rebound the ball well and score high-percentage baskets, outscoring the Rams 51-30 in the final stanza. Junior An’Juan Wilderness made his debut after missing the first seven games with a strained left calf and pulled down six rebounds.
Charlotte freshman Gokhan Sirin came off the bench to knock down three second-half 3-pointers and pull down five rebounds, much to the delight of Niner Nation. Also seeing action late in the game were Trevin Parks, Colby Lewis and Kyle Church.
Charlotte returns to the hardwood Saturday afternoon to take on Gardner Webb at 3:30 p.m. as part of a double-header with the women’s team.
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