CHARLOTTE, NC—Charlotte big men Willie Clayton and Mike Thorne each scored 14 points and nine rebounds to lead the 49ers (15-13/6-9) to a 74-63 Conference USA victory over the Monarchs( 14-16/8-7) in a televised matchup Sunday afternoon.
ODU sophomore Aaron Bacote led the Monarchs with 17 points, followed by Ambrose Mosley with 12 off the bench and Dimitri Batten with 10.
Trailing, 32-26 at halftime, ODU started the second half off with a 6-2 run after a Bacote layup cut the 49er lead to 34-32 with 18:32 left. After the timeout, Charlotte went on an 8-1 run for a 42-33 lead on a Thorne bucket with16:13 left in the game and the 49ers re-took control of the contest. Charlotte led by as much as 18 (62-44 with 9:44 left).
ODU finished the game shooting .500 (27-54) from the field, while Charlotte shot .517 (30-58). The 49ers dominated the boards, 35-25 and scored 40 points in the paint to end their six-game losing streak. Both Charlotte big men Clayton and Thorne combined for 13-17 shooting from the floor to go along with the 18 rebounds. Pierria Henry led Charlotte with a game high 10 assists.
In the second half, ODU shot .571 (16-28) from the field and Charlotte shot .552 (16-29).
Keenan Palmore led ODU with five assists, while Ambrose Mosley came off the bench to score 12 on 4-for-7 shooting from three-point range. Senior forward Anton Larsen and junior forward Joe Ebondo added four points each off the bench. Larsen also grabbed a season high four rebounds.
The Monarchs return for their regular season home finale Thursday night to play East Carolina at 7 p.m
.