The road-weary Charlotte 49ers dropped another road contest Wednesday night, losing to Xavier at Cintas Center, 86-74. With another poor shooting performance, the 49ers got behind early and were never able to work their way back into the game.
Jordan Crawford turned in another solid performance with 18 points and five rebounds for Xavier (11-5; 3-0), who won for the seventh time in eight tries against Charlotte (11-5; 1-1). The Musketeers also continued their home conference winning streak to an impressive 25 games, they haven't lost at Cintas Center since the end of the 2005-06 season.
Before fouling out with 8:53 remaining, Xavier's Dante Jackson scored a season-high 14 points and six assists, Jason love also turned in 10 points for the Musketeers.
An'Juan Wilderness led Charlotte with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting in 27 minutes of action. The Niners also got double-figure scoring nights from Chris Braswell (14), Derrio Green (10) and Shamari Spears (13).
Charlotte struggled from the field early and often and could never get a rhythm going against the hot-shooting Musketeers. The Niners shot a lowly 32 percent from the field in the first half and went just 7-of-15 from the foul line, uncharacteristically.
Continuing a recent trend, the Niners allowed Xavier to go on a big, early run and get out in front. After Charlotte took the lead 5-4 at the 17:30 mark, Dante Jackson scored six points as part of a 10-0 Xavier run that put the Niners behind the 8-ball early.
The 49ers never got closer than six and trailed by 16 at the break, going a season-low 1-13 from behind the arc. While the 49ers struggled with shooting during the first half, the Musketeers flourished. Xavier knocked down 54 percent of their shots, including 12-of-16 from the foul line.
Xavier extended their lead to as much as 21 in the second half and were never really threatened by the Niners. Charlotte did mount a charge and got to within 10 of Xavier with just over six minutes remaining. After Charlotte closed to within 10, Xavier scored 10 of the next 14 points to put the game away.
Charlotte outscored Xavier 46-42 in the second half, shooting 51 percent from the field as well as making all nine free throws to mount the charge. But the 49ers struggles from behind the three-point arc got even worse as the 49ers shot a season-low 2-22 from 3-point range.
Charlotte won the battle on the glass 35-29, getting five-rebound efforts from both Phil Jones and Shamari Spears.
The Niners return home on Sunday to take on Rick Majerus and a young St. Louis team.
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