March 8, 2002

Cincinnati, Ohio -

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The 49ers (18-10, RPI: 34) are making their sixth straight appearance in the C-USA Semifinals ... the 49ers have advanced to the finals four of the last five and won titles in two of the last three ... Bobby Lutz owns a 10-1 record in the C-USA Tournament, with two titles ... The 49ers dropped both regular-season meetings to Cincinnati ... the 49er beat Cincinnati in last year's C-USA Championship game and beat the Bearcats in the 1999 semis on their way to the title ... the 49ers have never beaten Cincinnati in Cincinnati (0-7), including a loss in the 1998 C-USA Championship ... Lutz owns a 2-6 record vs. Cincinnati when the Bearcats are ranked.

The News: Charlotte defeated Tulane, behind 22 points from Jobey Thomas (6-of-11 3FG) to reach the C-USA semis for the sixth straight year ... Thomas notched his 15th 20+ scoring night ... with six threes, he hs hit five or more treys in each of the last six games ... Thomas now owns school and conference records for career threes (344) and single-season threes (108) ... with 11 wins in league play, the 49ers posted double-digit league wins for the fifth time in C-USA's seven years ... the 49ers have at least one win against every team they have played in C-USA, except Cincinnati -- and that includes each team from the American Division and the top 3 teams from the National Division (Memphis, South Florida, Houston) ... Charlotte has not lost a game outside the Top 100 RPI. In fact, 6 losses have come to teams in the Top 26 RPI ... the 49ers have won 8 games vs. the Top 100 RPI ... Thomas, who averaged 20.4 points in C-USA games, joins Henry Williams and DeMarco Johnson as the only 49ers to average over 20 points in league play since 1990 ... Cam Stephens, a second-team all-Conference USA choice, has notched 13 double-doubles, this year, with nine coming in league play ... Stephens averaged a double-double (15.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg) in league play ... four 49ers averaged double-figures in league play, including reserve forward Kevin "Butter" Johnson (10.0 ppg, .527 FG%) ... sophomore guard Demon Brown has passed out 100 assists (121) for the second straight year and owns a 1.75 A-TO ratio ... in Brown's last 3 games: 15.3 ppg, .524 3FG% (11-21) with 6.7 assists.

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