Dec. 16, 2000

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana (7-3) overcame a 17-point deficit in the second half to surge past the 49ers (6-2) and hand Charlotte its second loss of the season, 76-72.

The 49ers led 36-29 at the half after eight players hit the scoring column and the Niners nailed six of 16 three-pointers. The lead was pushed to 41-38 at 16:40 as the Niners raced to a 12-2 start. Freshman Rodney White, who scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, had six points in the early run.

Indiana answered with a 9-2 run to get within 10, 50-40, and then scored 12 straight to even the score, 52-52, with 10:19 to play. The Hoosiers built the lead to as many as four, 58-54, but the Niners responded and took a three-point lead, 64-61, on a four-point play from senior Diego Guevara. A pair of Kevin Johnson free throws at 4:29 held the lead at four, 68-64. Tom Coverdale's three-pointer at 3:02 created the fourth tie of the game and led to 10-0 run that gave the Hoosiers a seven-point lead, 76-69 with time running out. Demon Brown hit a three-pointer with a second left to close the scoring at 76-72.

"They recovered because they are a good defensive team," said 49ers head coach Bobby Lutz. "We knew that coming in. In the first half it was difficult to get some looks, but we showed poise in getting some good looks and open threes. In the second half, they shut that down. We did have a couple of wide open shots that we didn't hit."

Guevara hit three three-pointers to move into third-place in Conference USA history in threes made with 195.

The 49ers, whose two losses have both come on the road, travel to UTEP, Wednesday.