Charlotte, NC – Over 8,200 fans packed the stands of Halton Arena Saturday afternoon to witness Charlotte (14-7, 8-1 AAC) take on American Athletic Conference foe East Carolina (11-12, 4-6 AAC). The event marked the first time the arena has been sold out since a February 2, 2013 bout against UMASS.
After a sluggish start, which saw a bevy of 49er turnovers, it became clear that the team felt the pressure of playing in front of a capacity crowd.
“We had three turnovers where they [ECU] just knocked it [the ball] out of our hands and off our leg,” said Charlotte Interim Head Coach Aaron Fearne. “I said it to the coaching staff, we’ve got to play through this first four minutes and let the nerves settle down a little bit – which we did.”
ECU guard RJ Felton, seemingly had his way in the first half against Charlotte. The Aiken, SC native scored 11 of his game high 20 points in the first half and was effective in penetrating the lane and attacking Charlotte’s front line. Despite the team’s first half struggles, Charlotte still managed to take a 26-24 lead into the locker room at halftime where Coach Fearne had a strong message for his team.
“I talked about the physicality required,” said Fearne. “We were a lot more physical [in the second half], fouled a little bit more and that got the game where we wanted it to be.”
Charlotte answered the challenge. The Niners used the capacity crowd as fuel to outscore ECU 41-28 in the second half while shooting a very efficient 50% from the field. Niner point guard Nik Graves, who finished with 11 points, sent the crowd into a frenzy after knocking down a three with 5:29 left to play in the game. The basket pushed the Charlotte lead to 56-44 and effectively put the game out of reach for ECU.
With the win, Charlotte notches eight consecutive conference victories for the first time in program history and remain atop the AAC standings. However, Fearne is still not satisfied and still believes there is more for this team to accomplish as it heads into a grueling Tuesday night showdown against a South Florida team that has won seven straight games.
“We want more and it takes a lot of hard work to do that and a lot of discipline. I’ve said it before, if you think you’ve arrive, you’re done. That’s what the greats do in any sport or anything. They just want to continue to work and want to be better and it becomes an obsession and that’s what I’m trying to educate them with.”
