Beach
falls to eastern 49ers
By Karl Peterson
On-line Forty-Niner
In
a men’s basketball battle of 49ers, the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
49ers trounced the Long Beach State 49ers
on Friday, 89-61, at Halton Arena in Charlotte,
N.C.
The Beach played the first few minutes competitively
Friday night and had a 14-10 lead after
forward Kevin Roberts hit a three-pointer
with 12:41 remaining in the first half,
but tenacious full court defense sparked
easy buckets for Charlotte.
The Beach committed 35 turnovers in the
game, which was the season opener for both
squads, and many of those mistakes were
converted into fast break scores for Charlotte.
Charlotte (1-0) took a 47-25 lead into halftime
and never looked back.
Charlotte guard Demon Brown had 19 points
in 18 minutes on 5-of-7 shooting from behind
the three-point arc, and added six of the
team’s 23 steals to lead the way for the
49ers of the East. Freshman forward Curtis
Withers poured in 14 points and seven rebounds
off the bench for Charlotte.
Roberts scored 15 points and added six rebounds
for LBSU (0-1), which trailed by as many
as 41 points in the second half, before
Charlotte eased the defensive intensity.
Guard Tony Darden, who grew up in Snow Hill,
North Carolina, chipped in 13 points shooting
50 percent from the field.
The game is part of a tough preseason schedule
for The Beach. Charlotte has become a program
of national prominence under head coach
Bobby Lutz. Lutz has taken the team to the
NCAA tournament in three of his four seasons
and won the Conference USA championship
twice.
In addition, The Beach will look for its
first victory against Cal State Monterey
Bay at 7:35 p.m. on Tuesday at The Pyramid.
This game should be an easy win against
the young school considering the 49ers beat
CSUMB, 81-46, on Nov. 26, 2001, and cruised
to 127-57 route on Dec. 22, 1999.
A tally in the win column against CSUMB
could be important because The Beach may
have a tough December, facing UCLA, Gonzaga
and Loyola Marymount on the road and Pepperdine
and San Diego State at home.
|
