Dec. 23, 2009
Box Score | Post-Game Press Conference (Subscription Required)
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion men's basketball team saw the entire active roster score and shot a blistering 53 percent from the floor in a dominant 81-48 victory over Charlotte Wednesday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
Coming off a 61-57 victory over #11 Georgetown, the Monarchs snapped Charlotte's seven-game win streak and improved to 8-4 on the year. The 49ers, who downed #20/18 Louisville earlier in the month and has been receiving votes in both the AP (36th) and ESPN/USA Today Coach's Poll (37th), fell to 9-2 overall. Charlotte had not lost since falling to Duke in mid-November.
Old Dominion was running on all cylinders going 53 percent (35-of-66) from the floor, outrebounding the 49ers 47-26, scoring 44 points in the paint, and seeing the bench contribute 32 points.
The game opened up with the Monarchs taking a 15-5 lead by the 13:14 mark. After Marsharee Neely (Greesboro, N.C.) drained a three, Charlotte's Phil Jones came right back with a three of his own. Jones' bucket from downtown, which cut the 49er deficit to seven, would be the closest his team would come the rest of the night. In fact, after Jones' trey is would be another five and a half minutes before Charlotte would score again. By then, the Monarchs had established a 27-9 lead.
Charlotte had entered tonight's game averaging 80.1 points per contest as the top scoring team in the Atlantic-10, but by the half, the 49ers had only racked up 13 points. Old Dominion, which ranks second nationally in scoring defense, owned a 40-13 advantage at the intermission behind 10 of Gerald Lee's (Uusikapunki, Finland) game-high 16 points.
The second half saw more of the same with Old Dominion leading by as many as 37 late in the game.
Joining Lee in double figures were three other Monarchs. Trian Illiadis (Perth Australia) with a career high 13 off the bench, Kent Bazemore (Kelford, N.C.) with 11, and Frank Hassell (Chesapeake, Va.) with 10.
The 49ers had just one in double figures in Shamari Spears with 12 points.
It was a group effort on the boards as the Old Dominion outrebounded Charlotte by 21. Seven members of the Monarchs had four or more rebounds led by Lee with seven and Hassell, Ben Finney (Portsmouth, Va.), and Keyon Carter (Riviera Beach, Fla.) each hauling in six.
The Old Dominion men's basketball team will break for the holiday and regroup to face Duquesne, ODU's fourth Atlantic 10 opponent on Wednesday, December 30th at the Constant Center at 7:00 p.m. The Monarchs have won nine straight at home.