Charlotte Knocks Off Mississippi State, 70-64
Dec. 10, 2008
Starkville, Miss. -Senior forward Lamont Mack scored a season-high 19 points as Charlotte defeated Mississippi State, 70-64, handing the Bulldogs their first loss in six home games. It was the 49ers second straight road win, coming on the heels of the 66-64 victory at Southern Illinois.
Charlotte (3-6) stormed out to a 36-20 halftime lead and pushed the margin as high as 24 in the second half. They still led by 18 with under four minutes to go before the Bulldogs (6-3) rallied. Charlotte led by 14, 70-56, with :38 seconds left. Mississippi State came into the game 5-0 at home.
"That's the team we think we can be," said 49ers head coach Bobby Lutz. "We know we are better than our record and tonight we proved it. I think we were really ready for this game. When I looked in our eyes (before the game), I knew they thought we could win."
Mack hit 8-of-15 shots, including 3-of-8 threes to break out of a shooting slump and lead the 49ers attack. It was his first game with over 15 points since the season-opener.
"I've been trying to practice early and stay late to work on my jump shot," Mack said. "(Last week), we went down to Carbondale believing in ourselves and came out with a big boost. Every game has prepared us for this game."
Four 49ers scored in double figures. Junior guard DiJuan Harris scored 11 points with five assists and no turnovers. RaShad Coleman and An'Juan Wilderness both scored 10 points.
The 49ers shot 39% from the floor and 38% from long range, but limited Mississippi State to 31% shooting, which included just 23% from long range. The 49ers outrebounded MSU 45-42.
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"We executed our offensive game plan," Lutz said. "The first half is the best half we have played. We played well for 35 minutes. I'm not happy with how we finished but it was nice to have a working margin. I was extremely pleased with our our defensive effort. Defensively, we were on our game plan as well as we've been."
