Demon Brown hit three straight three-pointers as Charlotte bolted to a 14-0 lead on their way to a 21-point victory over East Carolina. Brown finished with 21 points, hitting five three-pointers. |
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Upperclassmen Lead Men's Basketball Past East Carolina, 83-62
Jan 11, 2003
Jan. 11, 2003
Halton Arena - The Charlotte 49ers scored the first 14 points and raced to a 26-point halftime lead on their way to an 83-62 Conference USA victory over East Carolina, Saturday night. Junior scoring leader Demon Brown led the attack with 21 points while senior guard Curtis Nash and junior Butter Johnson scored 15 apiece. Charlotte shot .435 from three-point range, behind Brown (5-of-13) and Nash (3-of-6). The trio shot .472 as a group (17-of-36) from the floor.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak, the longest for the 49ers in Head Coach Bobby Lutz's five seasons, and ended an uncharacteristic three-game home losing streak.
"It feels good to get a win," said Lutz. "It was much-needed. Our effort, our guys have kept playing hard, we just had trouble scoring. Tonight, we shot the ball incredibly well, we passed the ball incredibly well and we rebounded well, especially in the first half. Our upperclassmen played really well."
In particular, there was Brown -- who had a pair of steals on ECU's first two possessions, and hit three consecutive three-pointers to post Charlotte to an 11-0 lead. After Curtis Withers converted a three-point play, the Niners led 14-0. An 8-0 run later in the first half staked the 49ers to a 19-point lead, 32-13.
"We know Demon is a good shooter. We've got to get him open and he's got to make make them," Lutz added.
And there was Nash. The senior scored 15 points, his second best scoring night of the season, hit 6-of-11 shots and added five assists with just one turnover. He nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the half and give Charlotte a 49-23 lead, its largest halftime lead in two years.
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East Carolina would get no closer than 15 in the second half.
Sophomore Eddie Basden added a team-high nine rebounds with five assists and five steals, giving him a team-high 30 steals on the year.
Charlotte travels to UAB, Tuesday night for an 8:00 game that can be seen, locally, on WAXN-TV and heard on WFNZ, 610 AM SportsRadio.
