The 49ers welcomed the Old Dominion Monarchs on Feb. 6 inside a blacked out Halton Arena, but neither the fans or the players could stop Trey Freeman of the Monarchs, who led ODU to an overtime victory with 38 points.
Charlotte knew going into the night that they were going to have their hands full with arguably the best player in Conference-USA, Freeman, who is averaging just under 27 points-per-game in conference play.
“The key was going to be able to slow down Freeman but we just didn’t have an answer for him,” said coach Mark Price. “He was unbelievable tonight.”
In the first half, the lively atmosphere inside Halton Arena was evident and it seemed as if Joseph Uchebo (18 points and 19 rebounds) was going to have another historic now, grabbing five rebounds in the first nine minutes. But, scoring the rock for the 6-foot-10 center didn’t come easy, getting double teamed on almost every possession in the paint.
Joseph Uchebo knocks down a free-throw to add to his 18 points against Old Dominion. Photo by Chris Crews.
“First half, the plan was to try and get touches for Joseph in the paint,” said Price. Charlotte didn’t hit any open jump shots anywhere on the court after getting the pass from the double-teamed Uchebo, only putting up 17 points as a team in the first half.
“We felt good about our defense in the first half. When you hold a team to 27, you feel pretty good about yourself. But we were still down 10,” said Price.
Coming out of halftime, Braxton Ogbueze, who finished with 18 points, knocked down a couple big threes to help cut the lead to 35-31. The 49ers were down by four most of the second half until Ogbueze hit a jumper with four minutes remaining to bring the 49ers within two, 56-54.
After trading buckets with the Monarchs for the next two minutes, Charlotte’s point guard Jon Davis missed a free-throw with just under two minutes remaining but eventually grabbed his own missed shot, kicked it out to a wide-open Ogbueze for three, tying the game at 60.
Charlotte held a three-point lead after two clutch free-throws from Curran Scott, who finished with 15 points, but Freeman knocked down a contested three-point jumper in the face of White to send the game into overtime.
Braxton Ogbueze rises up and knocks down the contested jumper. Photo by Chris Crews.
In overtime, Charlotte struggled to find any offense, going on an almost four-minute scoring drought. After a couple big shots from Freeman, the Monarchs closed out the game and left the fans in Halton walking back to their rooms and cars asking themselves, “Why can’t we win the close games?”
Ogbueze was asked the same question in the very short post-game interview, answering, “One day. One of these days. We are going to knock it down.”
The 49ers will settle in at home for the next two games as they welcome Rice on Feb. 11 and North Texas on Feb. 13. Come out and support your Niners as they continue to prove to all of C-USA that they are still in the fight.