The Charlotte 49ers Men’s Basketball team was back in action on Tuesday night from inside Halton Arena. It went down to the final possession but the 49ers were able to get the job done and knock off the Monmouth Hawks 68-66.
The first half was back-and-forth initially until the 49ers got on a bit of a roll. It is noted that Charlotte did lead wire-to-wire in this game.
Monmouth would not lay down though and kept fighting. “We weren’t looking for a cupcake to open the season,” Ron Sanchez said following the game. The team definitely did not get that as Monmouth found a way to hang around.
The 49ers took a nine-point lead into the halftime break. Notable standouts in the first half were Robert Braswell, who didn’t start, but he made a big impact scoring eight points in the first half. Jahmir Young had a bit of an off first half by his standard. Sanchez applauded his resiliency after the game.
“The beauty about Jahmir now is that he has enough experience under his belt,” Sanchez said. “He has been through some tough games through his journey. To his credit, he made some big plays, I thought he challenged the rim well and really thought he managed the game well today.”
One thing that has to be noted about this game that many probably realize, but nonetheless this is the first game back with a crowd for the basketball team. Last season it was family and a limited crowd at best. Now that fans are back in the seats it really is a growing opportunity for the players.
In the second half, Charlotte took a commanding lead. This is not uncommon as they did so a lot last season as well. Then it started to slip away. On multiple occasions over last season, this happened as well but is something that Sanchez and company will look to sure up.
In the end, it came down to one last possession by the Hawks that ended in them missing a three-point opportunity and the 49ers edging out the victory. It might not have been pretty but it is 1-0. A win is a win, and they can learn and grow from this game.
Charlotte takes on USC Upstate inside Halton Arena on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. Tune in on CUSA.tv to catch the action.
