BCA Invitational, Laramie, WY

Good start to the season, looks like De'Angelo Alexander (Oklahoma transfer) may be as good as advertised.

Sunday’s games
UNC Wilmington 75, Butler 59
Wyoming 69, Alabama State 54
Charlotte 82, Coppin State 65
Northwestern 61, Lehigh 59

Monday’s games
Butler vs. Alabama State, 2:00 EST
Coppin State vs. Lehigh, 4:00 EST
Charlotte vs. Northwestern, 10:00 EST
UNC Wilmington vs. Wyoming, 8:00 EST

Charlotte Opens Season With Win At Coppin State
LARAMIE, WY (AP) - Coppin State was smart enough not to give Charlotte's Curtis Withers any easy looks in the lane. Their mistake was leaving De'Angelo Alexander open on the perimeter.

Alexander had four 3-pointers and 22 points to lead the 49ers (1-0) to an 82-65 victory over Coppin State (0-1) Sunday night in the first round of the Black Coaches Association Invitational.

"We started off going inside, and that is what opened up the outside jump shots," Alexander said.

Open them up? Did they ever.

Alexander hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring, and Leemire Goldwire added two more in Charlotte's 11-4 opening run.

"We started out playing a really good first half," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "A couple of defensive mistakes, but I think we played real well."

Leading 23-15 midway through the first half, the 49ers went on a 15-2 run capped by Drayton's 3-pointer from the top of the key that made it 38-17. After that, Coppin State never got within single digits.

The 49ers led 46-28 at halftime after hitting better than 61 percent from the field in the first half, including five of 12 3-pointers.

"We came out sluggish, a little scared," Coppin State coach Ronald "Fang" Mitchell said.

"If they had come out passive like we did, then they would have had a basketball game," Mitchell said. "But they didn't come out passive. They attacked us."

Withers added 17 points and 10 rebounds for Charlotte, and E.J. Drayton scored 10.

Darryl Proctor led Coppin State with 19 points, and Darryl Roberts scored 17.

Charlotte will play the winner of the Lehigh-Northwestern game in the semifinals; Coppin State will play the loser.

Lutz also was pleased to see his team had outrebounded Coppin State 50-30 -- and particularly pleased with Charlotte's 36 defensive rebounds, a point of emphasis for the 49ers this season.

"That's an area that we -- let me rephrase. We have been a very good offensive rebounding team; we have not been as good of a defensive rebounding team," Lutz said. "That's something we've worked on.

Proctor opened the second half with a pair of baskets, pulling the Eagles within 46-32, but that was the closest they would get.

Charlotte responded by going inside to Withers, who scored six of the next eight points for the 49ers. A 3-pointer from Alexander made it 57-37 with 15:15 left.

 

The Black Coaches' Association Classic is being held in Wyoming.

Good win.

 

Correction, bad loss.

 

fixed

 

Monday's games
Butler 70, Alabama State 61
Lehigh 65, Coppin State 64
Northwestern 61, Charlotte 47
UNC Wilmington 62, Wyoming 59 OT

Tuesday's games
Alabama State vs. Coppin State, 2:00 EST
Butler vs. Lehigh, 4:00 EST
Charlotte vs. Wyoming, 8:00 EST
Northwestern vs. UNC Wilmington, 10:00 EST

Northwestern 61, Charlotte 47
By Mead Gruver, Associated Press Writer

LARAMIE, WY (AP) - Northwestern coach Bill Carmody didn't complain Monday about the winning performance of his players.

"Tonight I didn't even have to coach them that much," he said after beating Charlotte 61-47 in the semifinals of the Black Coaches Association Invitational.

That's compared to Sunday, when he said the Wildcats (2-0) did "a lot of dumb things" in falling behind by as much as 12 but squeezing by Lehigh 61-59 in the final seconds.

Charlotte will play Wyoming, which beat North Carolina-Wilmington 62-59 in Monday's other semifinal, in Tuesday's third-place game.

For the second game in a row, Vedran Vukusic was Northwestern's go-to man. He produced 28 points, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range.

"He's a pretty good all-around player," Carmody said.

Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz also couldn't deny Vukusic credit. "He was the one. Without him, it changes things," he said.

The 49ers (1-1) came within 42-37 about two-thirds of the way through the second half on a layup by Curtis Withers. But foul trouble ensued and that's as close as they got.

"We showed some signs, made a few little runs through both halves, but couldn't sustain it," Lutz said.

Northwestern hit 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

The 49ers were outshot 51 percent to 31 percent, but Carmody thought they were a better shooting team than that. "They missed some shots they ordinarily would have made," he said. "They had some good looks."

Leemire Goldwire led Charlotte with 13 points, followed by Withers with 12. Withers also had seven rebounds.

After Vukusic, Mohamed Hachad followed up with 14 points and 9 rebounds for the Wildcats.

In the first half, Charlotte edged ahead 10-9, but Northwestern answered with a 12-0 run that included a basket and 3-pointer by Vukusic.

The 49ers fought back, however, and Goldwire made two free throws, then a foul-drawing basket and another free throw to put Charlotte within 26-24.

Northwestern finished the half by making 4 of 4 free throws -- two each by Hachad and Vukusic -- to lead 30-25.

 

I listened to it on the radio until the 4 minute mark. Sounded like the same shit different day. Come down the floor, jack the ball up, keep jacking the ball up even if the jumpers aren't falling. Some guy on the other team named Hoobastank from Krackasstand gets a career high. Groundhog Day, I love that movie.

Getting behind double digits against Northwestern is tough. They run 12 seconds off of the clock before the even look to shoot. You don't get many possessions so you need to make them all count. We don't seem to be able to play that way.

I've always thought the best player on your team should touch the ball on almost every offensive possession. Especially when he is 6-8 and the jump shooters aren't hitting shots. There were stretches last night when Matt didn't mention Withers except on a rebound or foul or some other shit. I don't get it and I guess I never will.

 

uncc sucks...again

 

Come with something else Dave. It's cool, i expect and welcome a pile on, but have something insightful to say.

We can't play half court hoops. But we'll beat a good full court team.

 

You have read enough of DaveW to know he doesn't have anything else.

 

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