Charlotte Runs Past Gardner-Webb, 83-51, Saturday
December 22, 2007 | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte closed a tight first half with
a 16-4 run, and continued to pull away in the second half to beat
Gardner-Webb, 83-51, Saturday afternoon.
The 49ers (7-4) led just 27-25 with just under five minutes left in
the opening stanza, but used its defensive pressure and offensive
rebounding to spark a 16-4 run that gave the squad a 41-29 lead at
the half – and effectively put the game out of reach.
Gardner-Webb (5-8) lost its fourth game in a row and was held to
its lowest point and field goal total of the season. One of the
A-Sun's top assist teams managed just 19 field goals and a
season-low eight assists – and made just 2-of-18 shots from
long distance (11 percent) in its worst overall performance of the
season.
Charlotte guard Lee Goldwire nailed six treys en route to a
game-high 20 points to pace the 49ers, who corralled 19 offensive
rebounds, forced 19 turnovers and blocked 10 shots. Charlie Coley
(12 points) and Lamont Mack (11 points) joined Goldwire in double
digits, while backup forward Charlie Dewhurst came off the bench
for a season-high 12 points – including 10 in the first
half.
Thomas Sanders paced Gardner-Webb with 14 points, but had a
season-low five rebounds and was credited with four of GWU's 19
turnovers (four fouls). Nate Blank was the only other GWU player in
double figures, scoring 11. The starting backcourt duo of Aaron
Linn and Grayson Flittner combined to go 0-for-6 from the floor on
the afternoon, with Flittner's two technical foul free throws in
the first half the only points for that duo – which came in
averaging 28 points per game between them.
Reserve forward Matt French did provide some form of a spark off
the bench in the second half, scoring seven points and grabbing six
boards in just 14 minutes.
"We played soft today, and that's very discouraging for us," said
GWU head coach Rick Scruggs. "[Charlotte] made runs, but that
hasn't seemed to bother us this season. Today it bothered us. We
have to get better."
Gardner-Webb shots just 29.7 percent from the floor (19-of-64) on
Saturday, while allowing Charlotte to hit at a 42-percent clip. The
49ers made up for their lack of accuracy early on the offensive
glass, and wound up converting 23 second-chance points in the
game.
GWU will break for Christmas before returning to Paul Porter Arena
on December 29 to host Charleston Southern. That tipoff is set for
7 pm ET in Boiling Springs. Charleston Southern topped GWU, 80-69,
on December 15 in Charleston.
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