Charlotte 49ers’ AAC season ends with tough loss to Temple in tournament quarterfinal
The Lone Star State was not kind to the Charlotte 49ers, who played their ugliest game of the season when it mattered most — dropping a 58-54 decision to the No. 11 seed Temple Owls in their first appearance in the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
Temple, which has now won three games in as many days, advances to the tournament semifinals where it will meet Florida Atlantic on Saturday night.
For Charlotte, what was an exciting first season under Aaron Fearne came to a close on Friday night, and Charlotte will now await their postseason fate in hopes of an NIT invite. The 49ers haven’t won a conference tournament game since 2016, and their worst shooting performance of the season came at the worst possible time.
Charlotte shot a season-low 32.7% as a team and connected on just five of their 30 3-point attempts. For context, Charlotte scored 54 total points Friday night. Fearne’s team scored 47 points in the second half alone against East Carolina less than a week ago.
After the game, Fearne spoke about the offensive struggles and preparation.
“Disappointed that we couldn’t play better tonight. We didn’t shoot the ball great. We know we need to be better. Players can get better, and we can get better as coaches,” Fearne said after the game. “I wouldn’t say that our preparation during the week was great from a team perspective. Credit to (Temple) — their coaching staff and their players. We looked a little tired and didn’t have those game legs, for whatever reason.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
After scoring just 22 points in the first half (7-24 FG), Charlotte clung to a four-point lead in a sloppy opening period that featured just 40 combined points. But Temple got going in the game’s final 20 minutes, scoring 40 points on its own. Charlotte continued to falter. The 49ers, looking like the team playing their third game in as many days, netted just 11 total field goals in the second half with their season on the line.
Charlotte cut what was a nine-point Owls lead down to four with less than 10 seconds to play, but Lu’Cye Patterson’s step-back 3-pointer came up just short. Patterson scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, and that was his shot to take — it came up just short.
Guard Nik Graves added 14 points 11 of which came in the second half. Despite hitting two early 3-pointers, Igor Milicic Jr., the team’s second-leading scorer, was held scoreless in the second half. Milicic pulled down a season-high 16 rebounds in the loss.
“We didn’t come at this the right way. I don’t want to say we underestimated our opponent, but I feel like a lot of times when we play teams twice, we think it’s going to be the same thing. But in reality, their fight was different.” center Dishon Jackson said. “Temple just came out today and they had a different fight in them today.”
Opponents stopped guarding Isaiah Folkes (4.4 ppg) on the perimeter in late February, and Template followed suit on Friday night putting the 49ers at a four-on-five disadvantage on offense — clogging the cutting lanes, shading Jackson in the post and shrinking the floor for the 49ers’ slashers.
When asked if anything was missing from this group that could have pushed them to the next level, Patterson praised the team for sticking together through adversity.
“We stuck together since the summertime since we lost our head coach. I don’t think there was anything missing,” Patterson told the media. “I think we proved that we could beat any team in this league this year. It was just a good day for Temple today and hats off to them. I don’t think anything was missing from our team. Sometimes you just fall on the short end of the game.”
What was a season full of “firsts” for the 49ers came to a close in their first appearance at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. Despite the frustrations of the loss, Fearne was still proud of his team’s fight throughout the season, and is hopeful for a NIT invitation.
“I mean, yeah. Anytime you get an opportunity to play in post-season play I would definitely love to be part of that,” Fearne said about accepting a potential NIT invite. “Another opportunity for the guys to play and grow. As I said to them in the locker room after the game, they’ve achieved some unbelievable things this year — the first year in the league. The enthusiasm and passion that we’ve been able to bring back, and there’s some exciting times ahead.”
