Green Machine

Derrio Green came through in the clutch again for the Charlotte 49ers. This time, he scored 18 of Charlotte’s final 23 points over the final 5:23 to give the Niners a 77-72 come-from-behind victory over the lowly Fordham Rams after Charlotte trailed by as many as 10 with under seven minutes remaining.

The win moved the Niners (18-5; 8-1) into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10 after both Xavier and Temple lost on the road, Saturday. Charlotte is now the only team in the Atlantic 10 with just one conference loss.

The Niners trailed by 10, 59-49 with 6:57 left on the clock but scored eight consecutive points to pull within two at 59-57 on a Green three-pointer. Green then scored Charlotte’s next eight points with a driving layup and back-to-back threes to pull the Niners to within one at 65-66 and after An’Juan Wilderness knocked down two foul shots, the Niners had their first lead since the 17:47 mark of the second half, 67-66.

Another Green three-pointer at the 2:07 mark gave the Niners a two-point, 70-68 lead. Fordham’s Chris Gaston tied the game at 70 on a pair of free throws at the other end and at the 1:11 mark, the game was tied at 72. Charlotte’s Green made a driving attempt at the other end and was fouled. After he made both foul shots, the Niners were up 74-72 and after Fordham missed a three-pointer, Dijuan Harris was fouled. Harris made one of the two foul shots to put the Niners up 75-72 with 16 seconds left. Gaston’s tying three-point attempt went begging at the other end in the final five seconds and Charlotte gained possession and subsequently iced the game with two more Harris free throws. Charlotte nailed nine of their last 10 free throws in the final 2:51 to ice the win, similar to what they did on Wednesday night against George Washington.

Green finished with a team-high 24 points for Charlotte, Shamari Spears added 15 points and 13 rebounds and Wilderness scored 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting performance from the field.

Gaston finished with a game-high 32 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for the Rams (2-19; 0-9), who haven’t won a game since their 93-77 win over Stony Brook on Dec. 8 and remain at the bottom of the conference.

Fordham outshot Charlotte 46 percent to 44 percent but were outrebounded by the Niners, 33-26. Charlotte struggled from the stripe again in the early-going but like they did on Wednesday night, knocked down key free-throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Just a year after Charlotte went 11-20 and failed to win a conference road game, the Niners have made a complete turnaround, winning four straight conference road games and seven overall. The seven-game winning streak is the second of the season for the 49ers.

Charlotte stays on the road for a Wednesday-night match-up with the Dayton Flyers at 7:00 p.m. The Flyers crushed conference-leading Xaiver 90-65 in Dayton on Saturday afternoon.