November 22, 2002
CHARLOTTE, NC-- Demon Brown scored 19 points and a swarming Charlotte defense forced 34 Long Beach State turnovers as Charlotte won the season opener between the two teams, 89-61, at Halton Arena on Friday evening. Charlotte had four players score in double digits in the victory.
Long Beach led 14-10 after a Kevin Roberts three-pointer at 12:41, but Charlotte went on to outscore the 49ers 37-11 the remainder of the half and take a 47-25 advantage into the lockerroom. Long Beach had 15 turnovers in the first half, many leading to fastbreak Charlotte baskets. Roberts, who led the 49ers with 15 points, had 13 in the first half for The Beach, connecting on three of five three-pointers.
Charlotte's full court press forced the majority of the LBSU turnovers. Charlotte recorded 12 steals in the first half and 23 for the contest. Long Beach was not able to handle the pressure early on as Charlotte double-teamed the 49ers in the backcourt forcing a majority of the bad passes by The Beach.
Charlotte built its lead to as many as 41 points (75-34) at the 10:57 mark before calling off the full court press. Long Beach was able to play strong ball the final 10 minutes of the game, outscoring Charlotte 27-15 over the final 10-plus minutes of the contest.
Senior Tony Darden finished the evening with 13 points, Cody Pearson added eight points off the bench and Chris Jenkins finished with seven points.
Long Beach actually outrebounded Charlotte, 41 to 32, as Roberts, Jibril Hodges and Antoine Jackson grabbed six boards apiece. Jackson played well in the second half as he finished with four points, six rebounds and a steal in 12 minutes. Long Beach shot 7-17 (.412) from three-point range and .447 (21-47) from the field. Charlotte connected on 11-27 (.407) of its three-point attempts, while shooting .470 (31-66) overall in the contest.
Freshman Curtis Withers added 14 points, Chris Sages 11 and Mitchell Baldwin 10 as Charlotte committed just 10 turnovers in the game.
The 49ers will next be in action on Tuesday, November 26 when they host Cal State Monterey Bay at 7:35 pm in The Pyramid.
BOX SCORE
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