Curran Scott drives to the basket. Photo by Chris Crews
Charlotte (4-13, 1-4) hosted UAB (15-3, 5-0) for their fifth conference game of the season. The 49ers came back from a 16-point deficit to tie the game with 39 seconds left, but they weren’t able to seal the deal losing 74-72.
“Man, what a game,” head coach Mark Price said. “I hate losing, but I couldn’t be more proud of my guys right now and the fight they’ve been giving.”
Curran Scott had another big night recording a career-high 30 points and shot 50 percent behind the arc. Joseph Uchebo tallied his third straight double-double with 14 points and 19 rebounds. Finishing with 11 points was Conference USA Freshman of the Week Jon Davis. Braxton Ogbueze and Andrien White came close to double digits with nine and eight points respectively.
Charlotte was slow to start being out-scored 46-33 in the first half. Entering halftime. no assists had been recorded for Charlotte.
“We talk about three things to accomplish by the end of the night: play hard, play smart, and play together. I thought we were playing pretty hard in the first half, but we weren’t playing smart and we weren’t playing together,” Price said.
A spark ignited the Niners during the second half as they incorporated all three of Price’s goals. During the second half they made 20 out of 49 shots and grabbed 22 rebounds. At the 15 minute mark, UAB was ahead by 16. Then layups by Uchebo, Davis and Scott helped cut the lead down to six with five minutes left in the ball game.
Charlotte persevered and in the next few minutes the lead would fluctuate from six to 10 points until a streak of layups brought Charlotte within three points with a minute left. Scott came through with a three-pointer that would tie the game with 39 seconds remaining on the clock. With 3.5 seconds UAB’s Robert Brown made a shot to make it 74-72. After a timeout the ball was mishandled and Charlotte failed to get a shot off, causing the 49ers to endure another close loss.
This is the third consecutive game where the Niners have lost by three or less. Though they are not yet winning the close games, Charlotte is improving each game according to Uchebo.
“If you look at the beginning of the season and then look at where we are now you’ll see we’ve improved. We’re getting better every day and we’ll get there,” Uchebo said.
The thirty points scored by Scott is the most scored by a 49er so far this season. It is Scott’s third game tallying 20 plus points.
“When your teammate has confidence to give you the ball then that should give you the confidence to make the shot,” Scott said. “I just try to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves, but it doesn’t really mean anything if we don’t get a win.”
Continuing their conference play, Charlotte hosts Marshall next Thursday at 7 p.m. Price knows that the team cannot dwell on this loss, but instead get back in the gym and prepare for Thursday’s game.
“You have to bounce back – that’s part of growing up and being a man. I’ve got a lot of young guys, it’s our first time playing together and they’re growing up,” Price said. “It’ll take time but we’ll get there.”