Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball wins season opener

MADELINE DAVIS

Jaehshon Thomas makes a move to the basket in the Charlotte 49ers beat Presbyterian 88-79 in the season opener Nov. 4 at Halton Arena.

The Charlotte 49ers got into the win column on opening night.

The 49ers defeated Presbyterian 88-79 in a game where all five Charlotte starters scored double figures. Forward Robert Braswell, one of the 49ers’ veterans, scored 18 points and shot 5-of-6 from three-point range.

“My guards were really just finding me in the right spaces on the floor,” Braswell said. “I never had to take a dribble it seemed like, not one time. So, it was just really the guards and [Giancarlo Rissado] finding me.”
Charlotte coach Aaron Fearne was pleased with how well the 49ers shared the ball and took care of it. Charlotte committed 19 assists against just five turnovers, which is well below their season average of 9.5 last year.

“I think it comes down to a lot of the skill work we do,” Fearne said. “I think it comes down to a lot of the situations we put guys in to make the right decisions. I mean, that's elite. To have five turnovers and 19 assists; that's big time. And it would be fantastic if we can continue to do that.”

One area where the 49ers could improve is rebounding. When he took over the program Fearne talked often about it as an emphasis. Presbyterian pulled down 31 rebounds – 10 more than the 49ers – along with 11 offensive boards.

“It was almost even at halftime,” Fearne said. “Then [in the second half, Presbyterian] really came off their guard penetration. We couldn’t get back in front of the ball. So, then the big guys would half help which would leave the big open, and they would just clean up the mess. I would say that is where they generated probably 90% of their offensive rebounds in the second half, for sure.”

Charlotte was without guard Kylan Blackmon, forward Jeremiah Oden and forward Nika Metskhvarishvili.

“[Blackmon], if we really needed him tonight, he probably could have given us something,” Fearne said. “But he’s been really ill. He will practice next practice fully, so it will be great to get him back. But it’s going to take him some time. He got really sick there, which was horrible to see. Nika and Joe are going to have to keep working through some stuff. So, hopefully we will get them back. If not, we’ve got some depth.”

Fearne, who talks often about accumulating shared experiences as a team, understands they are going to get more challenging as the season progresses.

“Typically, a lot of teams lean on shared experiences together,” he said. This was our first shared experience together. We did some good things and some not so good things. We are going to see teams that press. We are going to see teams that sit back in a zone. It takes a lot of physical and emotional toughness to win, and I’m really proud of the guys to do that tonight. We’re going to deal with a different experience Saturday out there at Utah State. I hope their crowd is loud and gets after us big time. I want our guys to feel that experience and have to deal with whatever comes our way.”

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